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| Founded | 1931 | |||
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| Hubs | ||||
| Secondary hubs | ||||
| Frequent-flyer program | LifeMiles | |||
| Airport lounge | Salones VIP | |||
| Alliance | Star Alliance (future)[1] | |||
| Subsidiaries | Aeroman · Lacsa · TACA Perú TACA Regional · Aviateca Aeroperlas · Isleña Nicaragüense de Aviación La Costeña · Sansa |
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| Fleet size | 40 (+53 orders) | |||
| Destinations | 50 destinations in 22 countries | |||
| Parent company | AviancaTaca Holding | |||
| Headquarters | San Salvador | |||
| Key people | Fabio Villegas (President) Roberto Kriete (Chairperson) |
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| Website | www.taca.com | |||
TACA is the trade name "brand" comprising a group of five independently IATA-coded and -owned Central American airlines, whose operations are combined to function as one and a number of other independently owned and IATA-coded regional airlines which code-share and feed the TACA brand system. TACA, originally an acronym of Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos (Central American Air Transport), now stands for Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano (Air Transport of the American Continent), reflecting its expansion to North, Central, South America and the Caribbean.
The five airlines are:
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In October 2009 it was announced that TACA would merge its assets in a strategic alliance with Colombian airline Avianca, in which case each will maintain their own trademark and operations. Avianca and TACA currently operate a combined fleet of 129 aircraft, serving over 100 destinations in the Americas and Europe.[2] In December 2009 approval for the merger was given by the Colombian Civil Aeronautical Agency.[3]
Ecuadorian airline Aerogal also announced its merger into Avianca-TACA by the end of October 2009.[4]
TACA has three flight hubs or "Centros de Conexiones":[5]
TACA's headquarters are in San Salvador, El Salvador.[6]
TACA's regional airlines system includes the following airlines:
TACA was founded in 1931 by New Zealander Lowell Yerex. TACA was once the "world's largest cargo carrier.". The idea of its founder was to establish one airline in each Latin-American country, such as Aerovias Brasil in Brazil and other TACAs in Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia.Out of all the TACA franchise airlines created, only TACA International of El Salvador survived, and has now ventured in acquisitions and has helped launch airlines such as the Mexican Volaris and has 49% shares in TACA Peru.
Until 1980 TACA was owned by a United States company and had its corporate headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana (due to the civil war raging in El Salvador) in 1980 the Kriete Family of El Salvador who owned a minority stock completed buying all the shares. Today the headquarters returned to San Salvador, El Salvador to a new building which was inaugurated in 2008.
Between 1989 and 1995, TACA bought the majority shares of the flag airlines of Guatemala (AVIATECA), Costa Rica (Lacsa), and Nicaragua (NICA), consolidating operations under a new brand name, Grupo TACA. In 2008, Roberto Kriete and the board of directors decided to revert back to the original name; TACA International Airlines since the consolidation of the acquired airlines was completed. It has announced that it will join Star Alliance in 2012 and all of its affiliates, except Volaris will join the alliance as affiliate members.
AviancaTaca alliance (since 2009)
The merger of Colombia's Avianca and Salvadoran-based TACA is the latest sign that consolidation in the Latin American airline sector is picking up.
The newly formed Holdco - which will be controlled jointly by Avianca and TACA - instantly becomes one of the region's largest airlines after Brazil's TAM and GOL, with 129 aircraft and flights to more than 100 destinations.
In November 2009, the airline's Chief Executive Fabio Villegas announced that the airline is looking to replace its Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 aircraft with newer aircraft of 100 seats or less. The 10 Fokker 50s and 15 Fokker 100s are currently operated on flights shorter than one-and-a-half hours. Aircraft manufactured by Brazil's Embraer, Canada's Bombardier Aerospace and the Airbus A318 are being considered for the replacement.[7]
In December 2010, The airline made the decision to retire the Fokker 100 aircraft in 2011 and replace them with 10 Airbus A318 leased from GECAS from 2011-2018. The aircraft will be delivered during January to February 2011.
Star Alliance (from 2012)
On November 10, 2010 Star Alliance announced Avianca (and its subsidiary, TACA) to become full member in mid-2012. Due to Avianca's entry into Star Alliance it will stop its code share agreement with Delta Air Lines in March 2011 and begin a new code share agreement with United Airlines and Continental Airlines. TACA has been code sharing with United Airlines for a while now.
Lacsa is the only airline of the merger that has current operations. Lacsa operates with its own crew, service, and hub at San Jose. Its main hub is Juan Santamaría International Airport
From 1946 until 1949 TACA was serving the NICARAGUAN TERRITORY flying from Managua to the Atlantic coast Puerto Cabezas, Alamicamba, etc. It was replaced in that route for a Somoza owned company called FANSA. In 1956 a VISCOUNT plane of TACA taking off from Managua airport (LAS MERCEDES) went down killing several passengers.
Main Article: TACA destinations, Lacsa destinations, TACA Perú destinations
TACA has a total of 50 destinations around the world and continues to grow.
On September 24, 2008, TACA Chairman and CEO Roberto Kriete introduced a new brand of identity by unveiling a new Airbus aircraft painted in TACA's new colour scheme. The event also included a fashion show featuring the new uniforms for TACA staff designed by Colombian designer Isabel Henao.
TACA Airlines won the Skytrax award in the following categories:[8]
2009
2010
2011
As of June 2011, the TACA fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 5.5 years:[9][10][11]
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Options | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Y | Total | |||||
| Airbus A319-100 | 9 | 4 | — | 12 | 108 | 120 | one aircraft stored |
| Airbus A320-200 | 15 | 27 | — | 12 | 138 | 150 | |
| Airbus A320neo[12] | — | 33 | — |
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| Airbus A321-200 | 5 | — | — | 12 | 182 | 194 | |
| Airbus A330-200 | — | 2 | — |
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| Embraer 190 | 11 | 2 | 15 | 8 | 88 | 96 | |
| Total | 40 | 54 | 15 | ||||
Taca has operated the following types:
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LifeMiles is the Taca and Avianca frequent flyer program, it replaced the old one "Distancia".[18]
In addition to earning miles on TACA and TACA Regional flights, Taca has partnerships with the following airlines:
TACA was not a part of a formal airline alliance prior to November 2008, although it did exchange frequent flyer incentives to other airlines customers prior to this.
In November 2008 the chief executive of TACA Roberto Kriete revealed on the ALTA airline leaders forum in Cancun that TACA has submitted an application to join the Star Alliance.[2]
On Wednesday November 10, 2010 it was announced that TACA Airlines along with Avianca Airlines together part of Avianca-TACA Ltd. had chosen to join the Star Alliance. Both to be accepted in the year 2012.
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". Bogotá DC (Colombia). http://colombiareports.com/travel-in-colombia/113-general/20630-chilean-colombian-airlines-reach-codeshare-agreement.html.
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