"Avianca".
Avianca (acronym of Aerovías del Continente Americano, literally American Continent Airways; formerly known as Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, literally National Airways of Colombia) is a commercial airline headquartered in Barranquilla, Colombia. It is the sixth largest air carrier in Latin America and the largest airline in Colombia, holding the title of flag carrier since its founding in 1919.
Avianca's main base of operations is located at El Dorado International Airport, in Bogotá, D.C., Colombia, with scheduled service to international destinations in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, as well as an extensive domestic and charter operation.
Avianca operates four subsidiary airlines: SAM in Colombia, OceanAir in Brazil and VIP in Ecuador, as well as controlling 49% of Peruvian airline Wayraperú. Avianca Cargo is its cargo airline, Avianca Services its MRO and Deskubra its travel agency.
Avianca is considered by many to be the second oldest airline still operating in the history of aviation, after KLM of the Netherlands. This claim is disputed by those who cite the continuing operation of Chalk's Ocean Airways, a scheduled seaplane airline flying between Florida and the Bahamas, which had been founded two years earlier, beginning scheduled service in February of 1919.
The airline traces its history back to December 5, 1919, in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. Germans Werner Kämerer, Stuart Hosie, Alberto Tietjen, and Colombians Ernesto Cortissoz (the first President of the Airline), Rafael Palacio, Cristóbal Restrepo, Jacobo Correa, and Aristides Noguera founded the Colombo-German Company called Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo, or SCADTA. The company accomplished its first flight between Barranquilla and the nearby town of Puerto Colombia aboard a Junker F13 wherein 57 pieces of mail were transported; the flight was piloted by German Helmuth Von Krohn. This and another aircraft of the same type were completely mechanically constructed monoplanes, the engines of which had to be modified in order to be able to efficiently operate in the climatic conditions of the country; there were nine airplanes in the fleet with a total range of 850 KM (525 Mi) and could carry up to four passengers and two crewmen. Due to the topographic characteristics of the country, and the lack of airports at the time, two floaters were adapted to the Junker aircraft in order for them to accomplish water landings in the rivers of different towns. Using these floaters Helmuth Von Krohn was able to perform the first inland flight over Colombia on October 20, 1920, following the trail of the Magdalena River; the flight took eight hours and had to perform four emergency landings in the water.
Soon after the vision of the founding group had become a reality, German scientist and philanthropist Peter von Bauer became interested in the airline and contributed general knowledge, capital, and a tenth aircraft for the company as well as obtaining concessions from the Colombian government to operate the country's airmail transportation division using the airline. This new contract allowed SCADTA to thrive in a new frontier of aviation. By the mid 1920s, SCADTA, having ocercome many natural obstacles, inagurated its first international routes that initially covered destinations in Venezuela and the United States. Regretfully, in 1924, the aircraft that both Ernesto Cortizzos and Helmuth Von Krohn were piloting crashed into an area currently known as Bocas de Ceniza, in Barranquilla, causing their deaths. Despite this tragedy the airline continued to thrive under the guidance of German Peter von Braun until the early 1940s where circumstances related to the outbreak of World War II forced him to sell his shares in the airline to the U.S. owned Pan American World Airways
On June 14, 1940, in the city of Barranquilla, SCADTA, under ownership by United States businessmen merged with Colombian Air Carrier SACO (acronym of Servicio Aéreo Colombiano) forming the new Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A. or Avianca. Five Colombians participated in this act (Rafael María Palacio, Jacobo A. Corea, Cristobal Restrepo, Aristides Noguera), and German citizens Alberto Teitjen, Werner Kaemerer, and Stuart Hosie, while the post of first President of Avianca was acquired by Martín del Corral. There had been decades of dedicated work and contribution to Colombia's development through actions among which the following may be highlighted:
In 1994, a strategic alliance was established to merge three of the most important enterprises of the aeronautical sector of Colombia: Avianca, SAM (acronym of Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín), and Helicol (acronym of Helicópteros Nacionales de Colombia), which brought life to Avianca’s new system of operations.
This system offered specialized services in Cargo (Avianca Cargo) and mail (Postal Services, as well as the most modern aircraft fleet in Latin America made up of: Boeing B767-200, Boeing B767-300, Boeing B757–200, McDonnell Douglas MD83, Fokker F50 and Bell Helicopters.
Avianca’s new system covered the following destinations:
By 1996, the trademark Deprisa was created as an evolution of Avianca’s Postal Services to ship and deliver documents and urgent goods in 24 hours, with the most competitive rates of the market, through Deprisa and Deprisa Empresarial, Traditional Mail, Certified Mail, shipment Airport-to-Airport, and P.O. Boxes.
On December 10, 1998, Avianca announced the inception of a new "connections center" in Bogotá with around 6,000 possible weekly connecting flights, and an increased number of frequencies, schedules, and destinations, taking advantage of the privileged geographical location of the country’s capital for the benefit of Colombia and international travellers between South America, Europe, and North America.
After a rigorous and complex process which faced the Colombian airline and the aviation industry worldwide following the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in the United States, Avianca, regional carrier SAM and its major rival Aces (acronym of Aerolíneas Centrales de Colombia), joined together to create Alianza Summa which began merged operations on May 20, 2002. These three airlines decided to strategically merge their strenghts to offer a more efficient service with concerns to quality, quantity, security, and competition in a new struggling marketplace. However, adverse circumstances within the industry and markets forced the alliance to disband, and airline shareholders decided to iniate the liquidation of Alianza Summa in November of 2003, to focus in streghtening the Avianca trademark. These decisions resulted in the liquidation of Aces altogether, and the acquisition of SAM as a regional carrier under Avianca's system.
On December 10, 2004, Avianca concluded one of the most important and ambitious reorganization processes undertaken after filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection by obtaining confirmation of its Reorganization Plan which was financially backed by the Brazilian consortium OceanAir/Synergy Group and the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, allowing the airline to obtain funds for US$63 million dollars in the 13 months following withdrawal from C-11.
The Plan, which counted with the support of 99.8% of the voting creditors and which obtained the majority endorsement of the Creditors Committee, will enter into force once the Company emerges from bankruptcy. In accordance with United States laws, the administration has the trust obligation to consider any other investment proposal until the final term expiration stipulated. Notwithstanding, such offer, besides being better than the one that has been approved by Avianca’s domestic and international creditors and confirmed today by the Court, must be final, i.e. fully financed and backed with non-reimbursable cash deposits or equivalent mechanisms. Likewise, such proposal must be binding. As known, the only investment that complies with these requirements is that of OceanAir/Synergy Group and the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, which already makes part of the Reorganization Plan already voted favorably by the creditors and confirmed by the Judge.
Synergy Group is an evidenced credit-worthy Brazilian entrepreneurial conglomerate. Its strength lies in the oil sector, building, installing, and offering maintenance to offshore oil platforms; it is currently carrying exploration work in Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia. Other businesses include the extraction of gas in the United States; naval construction, telephony infrastructure, hydroelectric power plants, communications and a hydrocarbons marine exploration company which extends throughout nine countries with more than 5,000 workers.
It also owns and operates OceanAir, which services around thirty cities in Brazil, as well as VIP, an airline in Ecuador, Taxi Aero, a charter airline in Brazil, and the recently acquired Wayra in Peru, as well as Turb Serv dedicated to the maintenance of turbines.
Accidents on Avianca aircraft have been significantly low for an airline of its age and location within a nation that has struggled with drug trafficking and organized crime problems. The airline suffered a few incidents during the 1980s, which were arranged by rivaling gangs, under the assumption that a member of a rival gang was aboard. The deadliest of those incidents was Avianca Flight 203, which was bombed in 1989 following orders from Pablo Escobar to kill a politician. In the aftermath, it was found the politician did not board the plane.
However, it should be noted that in most of the incidents, Avianca was not at fault as its planes had been in working condition and all incidents were determined to have been caused by gang intervention. It should also be noted that only one successful bombing has occurred in the airline's history, while most other gang related incidents were related to hijackings, or shootings on board. In most hijackings, all passengers and crewmembers unaffiliated with the hijacker's cause, were immediately released.
In the 1990s, after the death or arrest of various traffickers at the hands of Colombian police, Avianca was able to regain its status as one of the safest airlines in the world.
Throughout its history, the airline has had several crashes not related to violence. These include:
Avianca had initially announced the start of services out of its Bogotá, D.C. Hub to Los Angeles, Barcelona, London, Paris, and Amsterdam before the end of 2005, but recently the airline announced it would not seek an European expansion. Instead, it opted to to increase, begin, or restart services to many destinations in Latin America, including Havana, San José, San Juan, Santo Domingo, and possible increased service to New York City and Fort Lauderdale.
Recently in a press interview Avianca said that it is thinking of starting a new flight from Medellín to Fort Lauderdale, They also said that they are thinking of starting a new flight from Medellin to San Juan, Puerto Rico via Bogotá. Flights are anticipated to begin in December of 2006.
Avianca has annouced new service between Bucaramanga and Panama City; this would be the first scheduled intenrational scheduled service from Bucaramanga.
Avianca is to start new services from Bogota to Valencia, Venezuela; the flight will begin operating on July 17, 2006 and will be operated by operated by SAM Colombia.
As stated above, Avianca had opted to not seek a European expansion to its previous destinations of London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Rome, preferring instead to focus on its other route expansions. However, Avianca is now reconsidering, and may fly from Bogotá, D.C. to London and Frankfurt in the near future. At present, Avianca is not considering service from Bogotá, D.C. to Paris, due to possible heavy competition from Air France.
Avianca has announced in its website it will add new frequencies to Guayaquil, Quito, Mexico, Aruba, and Curacao. These are due to start in 2006.
Air Canada Air France Delta Air Lines Grupo TACA Iberia Mexicana de Aviación
SAM OceanAir VIP Wayraperú Avianca Cargo
Avianca is set for a major fleet renewal and has issued requests for proposals (RFP) to Airbus and Boeing for up to 56 aircraft. It declines to comment on the RFP, but manufacturing sources say it comprises up to 42 narrowbodies (22 firm and 20 options), and 14 widebodies (seven firm and seven options) – most likely the Airbus A350 or Boeing B787. Airbus and Boeing sources confirm receipt of the RFP.
Avianca-SAM fleet consists of following aircraft (as of June 2006):
Avianca's average fleet age is 14.2 years old as of June 2006.
Avianca's Subsidiary, OceanAir has a separate fleet consisting of the following aircraft (as of March 2006):
OceanAir's average fleet age is 13.7 years old as of June 2006.
Avianca's Subsidiary, Wayraperú has a separate fleet consisting of the following aircraft (as of June 2006):
Wayraperú's average fleet age is 14.1 years old as of June 2006.
Avianca's Subsidiary, VIP has a separate fleet consisting of the following aircraft (as of June 2006):
The following have been airplanes the airline has used in the past:
Airlines of Colombia | Transportation in Colombia | Companies of Colombia
Avianca | Avianca | Avianca | Avianca | Avianca | Avianca
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the "Avianca".
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