Aviateca

Avianca Guatemala
Aviateca
IATA
GU		 ICAO
GUG		 Callsign
AVIATECA
Founded 1929 (as Aerovías de Guatemala)
1945
Hubs La Aurora International Airport
Focus cities Mundo Maya International Airport
Frequent-flyer program LifeMiles
Airport lounge Salones VIP (Avianca)
Alliance Star Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size 3
Destinations 3
Company slogan La Línea Aérea de Guatemala / Más alto, más lejos, mejor (The airline of Guatemala / Higher, further, and better.
Parent company Guatemalan Government / Avianca Holdings
Headquarters Guatemala City, Guatemala
Website http://www.avianca.com/en-gt/

Avianca Guatemala is headquartered in Guatemala City.[1] It is now a subsidiary of Avianca.

History

Aviateca Douglas DC-3 at Fort Lauderdale in February 1971
Douglas DC-6A of Aviateca Cargo Service at Miami Airport in 1971

The airline was established on 14 March 1945 as Empresa Guatemalteca de Aviación S. A., which was shortened to Aviateca. It was formed as the successor to Aerovías de Guatemala, which had been founded in 1929. One of the original founders was Alfredo Castaneda Duarte that also served as a pilot. Aviateca started operations in March 1946 and early aircraft operated by the carrier included the Douglas DC-3.

In 1961, service to Miami was originated with 4-engined Douglas DC-6 airliners. Convair 340/440 twin engined medium airliners were also acquired to replace some of the DC-3's on short-haul routes in Latin America. Aviateca was a customer for the British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven medium twin jet in 1970.

It also temporarily leased a Fokker F28, a Boeing 720 (N421MA) and a Douglas DC-8 in the 1970s. Aviateca acquired 2 Boeing 727 (TG-ALA, TG-AYA) from Eastern Airlines later, which operated for the airline in the 1980s. From 1989 on Aviateca's fleet consisted of several Boeing 737-200 and Boeing 737-300 jetliners. A full cargo Boeing 737-300 was also operated for a few months.

Aviateca was under government ownership and remained so until 1989 when it joined the TACA organised Airline Alliance of Central America and was privatised. It was fully integrated into TACA, which later merged with Avianca.

The aircraft were referred to by locals as "las papayas voladoras" (the flying papayas) due to the paint scheme used during the 1970s, in which the underbelly was painted a reddish orange. Later Aviateca switched to blue. From 2006 to 2007 Aviateca had a TACA Airbus A319 aircraft (N479TA) with the TACA-style Aviateca logo on the engines.

Regional

TACA Regional (formerly Inter and operating under Aviateca's IATA code) has 2 ATR 42-300 with Guatemalan registration (TG-TRA, TG-TRB).

Inflight Media

Maya Imperial was the Aviateca inflight magazine. And Live television or movie selection

Destinations

Colombia
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua

Fleet

As of September 2014 the Avianca Guatemala included:[2]

Incidents and accidents

References

  1. ↑ World Airline Directory. Flight International. March 22–28, 1995. 46.
  2. ↑ "Airfleets.net fleet list". Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Aviateca Guatemala takes delivery of first ATR72". Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Airliner World (September 2014): 21. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ "TC-AMA Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  6. ↑ "TG-AGA Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  7. ↑ "TG-AKA Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  8. ↑ "TG-AFA Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  9. ↑ "Photo: Aviateca, Douglas DC-3 TG-AFA". Airline Fan. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  10. ↑ 1995 Crash report
  11. ↑ Aviation Safety report

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aviateca.