Avianca
| File:Avianca logo.jpg | |||||||
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| Founded | December 5, 1919, as SCADTA | ||||||
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| Hubs | El Dorado International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | José María Córdova Int'l Airport Ernesto Cortissoz Int'l Airport Alfonso Bonilla Aragón Int'l Airport Rafael Nuñez Int'l Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | AviancaPlus | ||||||
| Alliance | Codeshared partners (2006) Air Canada Delta Airlines Grupo TACA Iberia Mexicana de Aviación | ||||||
| Fleet size | 51 (2006) | ||||||
| Destinations | 39 (2006) | ||||||
| Parent company | Aerovías del Continente Americano S.A. Synergy Aerospace Inc. Synergy Group Corp. | ||||||
| Headquarters | Barranquilla, Colombia  | ||||||
| Key people | Fabio Villegas Ramírez, CEO | ||||||
| Website | Avianca Colombia Avianca USA Avianca UK | ||||||
Avianca (acronym of Aerovías del Continente Americano, formerly Aerovías Nacionales de 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 three 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.
History
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.
SCADTA
The airline traces its history back to December 5, 1919, where 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 total 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 course 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 transporation 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, inagurating 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
Avianca: Colombia's Airline
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 Compañía Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A. or Avianca. Five Colombians participated in this act (Messrs. Rafael María Palacio, Jacobo A. Corea, Cristobal Restrepo, Aristides Noguera), and German citizens Alberto Teitjen, Werner Kaemerer, and Stuart Hosie, and 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 September of 1920, with Fritz Hammer as pilot, Wilhem Schnurrbush as copilot, and Stuart Hosie as a passenger, SCADTA accomplished its first flight between Barranquilla and Puerto Berrío.
- On October 19 of that same year, Helmuth Von Krohn accomplished the first flight between Barranquilla and Girardot, and by 1921 routes between Barranquilla, Girardot, and Neiva were established.
- In 1922 Avianca began to provide the airmail service.
- In August of 1922, General Pedro Nel Ospina, the then President of Colombia, for the first time used a SCADTA aircraft to conduct official business.
- On July 19, 1923, to save the country from bankruptcy, SCADTA transported a gold and currency load from Puerto Berrío to Girardot.
- On July 12, 1928, a SCADTA Junker F13, commanded by Pilot Herbert Boy crossed the Equator.
- The cost of the first SCADTA air tickets were as follows:
- On July 16, 1931, SCADTA established the first mail service between Bogotá and New York City.
- In 1937, the airline acquired 10 Boeing 247 twin-engine aircraft, extending its domestic routes.
- By October of 1939, Avianca had acquired the first Douglas DC3 aircraft arriving in the country flying at the then incredible speed of 200 miles per hour.
- Beginning in 1946, Avianca inaugurated flights to Quito, Lima, Panama City, Miami, New York City, and finally Europe using Douglas DC4 and C-54 aircraft,.
- In 1951, Avianca acquired the Lockeed Constellation 0749 and the Super Constellation 1049L aircraft, the biggest and fastest of the time.
- A grand feat in Colombian commercial aviation was also conducted by Avianca in 1956 when the airline committed to take the Colombian delegation that was to participate in the Melbourne Olympic Games in Australia. There were 61 hours of continuous operation, with only stopverover for refueling allowed.
- Four years later, in 1961, Avianca leased two Boeing 707-100 aircraft to operate its international routes, and on November 24, 1961, it acquired its own Boeing 720, baptizing them with the names Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander.
- The year 1976 was an important one for Avianca becoming the first Latin American airline to continuously operate a Boeing 747. Three years later it started operations with another 747, this time a 747 Combi mixed cargo and passenger operations.
- In 1981 the possibilities for in-ground service for passengers in Bogotá expanded thanks to the modern air terminal that Avianca commissioned: Avianca’s Air Bridge. The new terminal originally operated routes to Miami, New York City, Cali, Medellín, Pasto, and Montería.
- By 1990 Avianca had acquired two of the most modern aircraft in the world: Boeing B767-200ERs, which were baptized with the names of Cristóbal Colón and Américo Vespucio.
Avianca's System
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:
- In Colombia: Bogotá, Arauca, Armenia, Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Santa Marta, Leticia, Manizales, Montería, Pasto, Pereira, Popayán, Riohacha, San Andrés, Valledupar, Providencia, Capurganá, Bahía Solano, Nuquí, Caucasia, and Chigorodó.
- In South America: Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Lima, Quito, Guayaquil, Caracas.
- In the United States to Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami.
- In Central America and the Caribbean to Mexico, Panama, San José de Costa Rica, Curaçao, and Aruba.
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.
Alianza Summa
After a rigorous and complex process which faced the 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 effecient service with concerns to quality, quanity, 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 instead focus in streghtening the Avianca trademark. This decisions resulted in the liquidation of Aces altogether, and the acquisition of SAM as a regional carrier under Avianca's system.
Avianca and Synergy Group
On December 10, 2004, Avianca concluded one of the most important and ambitious reorganization processes undertaken after filling for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.
Avianca obtained the confirmation of its Reorganization Plan financially backed by the Brazilian consortium OceanAir/Synergy Group and the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, which allowed 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 the C-11. In accordance with the United States laws, the administration has the trust obligation to consider any other investment proposal until the final term expiration stipulated for today. 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 today by the Judge.
The Synergy Group is an evidenced credit-worthy Brazilian entrepreneurial conglomerate. Its great strength lies in the oil sector, for it builds, installs, and gives maintenance to platforms. It is carrying exploration work in Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia. Other businesses include the extraction of gas in the United States; the 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 is the owner and operator of OceanAir airline, which takes care of around thirty cities in Brazil, the airline VIP in Ecuador, Taxi Aero and the recently acquired Wayra in Peru, and Turb Serv dedicated to the maintenance of turbines.
Incidents and accidents
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 these incidents was Avianca Flight 203, which was bombed in 1989.
It should be noted, however, 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 Flight 011, a Boeing B747-200 that crashed onto a mountain just short of landing at Barajas International Airport in Madrid, Spain in September of 1983. The cause was determined as pilot error.
Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing B727 domestic flight which crashed into low mountains after take-off on March 17, 1988, killing all on board. It was determined that pilot error was also the cause of this crash in a situation similar to that of Avianca Flight 011 five years earlier.
On January 25, 1990, Avianca Flight 52, a Boeing B707-321 jet (built in 1965) en route from Bogotá to New York City via Medellín, crashed into a town in Long Island after running out of fuel while in a holding pattern, killing 73 of the 158 people aboard.
Destinations
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 a European expansion. Instead, it opted to to increase, begin, or restart services to many destinations in Latin America, including Havana, San José (Costa Rica), San Juan, Santo Domingo, and possible increased service to New York City and Fort Lauderdale.
On February 13, 2006 Avianca announced the re-opening of its old routes from Pereira and Barranquilla to New York-JFK, and from Bogotá to Los Angeles. The New York City flights to Pereira via Barranquilla will begin on June 2, 2006 and operate four times per week. The Los Angeles flight will operate three times per week beginning June 15, 2006. Avianca will also start new services from Bogotá, D.C. to Barcelona, Spain starting June 17, 2006 and Alicante, Spain starting June 21, 2006. This service will operate non-stop to Barcelona on Saturdays, and to Barcelona via Alicante on Wednesdays.
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 Medellín to San Juan, Puerto Rico via Bogotá. Flights are anticipated to begin in December of 2006.
As stated above, Avianca had opted to not seek an 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 had announced, that would start a new service from Bogotá, D.C., to Montego Bay, Jamaica, in high summer season 2006, and will begin on June 17, 2006.
Codeshared partners
Subsidiaries
- SAM - Colombia
- OceanAir - Brazil
- VIP - Ecuador
- Wayraperú - Perú
- Avianca Cargo
Fleet
Future
Current
The Avianca-SAM fleet consists of following aircraft (at April 2006):
- 2 Boeing B767-300
- 4 Boeing B767-200
- 7 Boeing B757-200
- 18 McDonnell Douglas MD83
- 10 Fokker F100
- 10 Fokker F50
Historic
- Junker F13
- Boeing B247
- Douglas DC3
- Douglas DC4
- Douglas C54
- Lockeed Constellation 0749
- Super Constellation 1049L
- Boeing B707
- Boeing B720
- Boeing B727
- Boeing B747
Awards and nominations
Awards
Nominations
- South America's Leading Airline - 2006 World Travel Awards
- South America's Leading Business Class Airline - 2006 World Travel Awards
- South America's Leading Airline - 2005 World Travel Awards
- South America's Leading Business Class Airline - 2005 World Travel Awards