Aerocondor Colombia

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Aerocondor
Aerovías Cóndor de Colombia SA
Boeing 720-023B HK-1973 Aerocondor MIA 08/03/75 edited-2.jpg
IATA code : (unknown)
ICAO code : OD
Call sign : Aerocóndor
Founding: 3rd February 1955
Operation stopped: May 1980
Seat: Barranquilla , Colombia
ColombiaColombia 
Turnstile :

Barranquilla and Bogotá

Home airport : Barranquilla
Company form: Corporation
Fleet size: 10
Aims: 28, nationally and internationally
Aerocondor
Aerovías Cóndor de Colombia SA ceased operations in May 1980. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Aerovías Cóndor de Colombia SA, Aerocóndor Colombia for short , was a privately owned airline in Colombia .

history

founding

On February 3, 1955, Aerocondor was founded by six former pilots of the airlines Lansa and Avianca . The captains Gustavo López, Juan B. Millón, Eduardo González, Luis Donado, Julio Flores and Enrique Hanaberghin recognized together to the opportunity to establish a new airline company Air-freight services throughout the Colombian Republic of the industrial city of Barranquilla offer. Flight operations began in August 1955 Curtiss C-46 - Commando aircraft such and on 7 October 1955, the first scheduled cargo flights were added, the later of the DC-3 Douglas have been added. With the expansion of the airline in the early founding years, most of the aircraft fleet was reconfigured for passenger traffic ; the first passenger flight took place on January 12, 1960. In the 1960s, the Douglas DC-4 , DC-6-B and Lockheed L-1649 Starliner piston-engined aircraft were added to the fleet. These aircraft made it possible for Aerocondor to take up international air traffic between Barranquilla and Miami from 1963 .

International connections and the era of turboprop

On May 1, 1969, the airline entered the turboprop era when it put the Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft acquired from American Airlines into service. These aircraft gradually replaced the airline's fleet of classic piston engine aircraft in the early 1970s. In 1972, the airline acquired a rare Canadair CC-106 - Yukon AIRPLANE exclusively for the Cargo operations.

Jet age

In December 1972, Aerocondor Colombia entered the jet age with the purchase of a Boeing B720-023B from McCulloch International Airlines. This aircraft was joined by a second former McCulloch-B720-023B in 1974.

The introduction of the B720-B aircraft modernized the airline's image and fostered the potential for even greater expansion. This enabled the airline to establish flight connections to Aruba , Curacao , Guatemala City , Panama , Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo , while increasing the frequency of its flights to Miami from Colombia's main cities Bogota and Medellin . Most of these services were direct, but some flights were also operated via the Colombian Caribbean island of San Andrés to various international destinations.

By this time, Aerocondor had become a respected airline and was considered Colombia's second international airline. It also began to compete internationally with the country's national airline, Avianca , to the concerns of both air traffic management and political representatives who wanted to protect Avianca's interests.

In 1975 Aerocondors financial control passed from the company's founders to Jorge Barco Vargas, a former chairman of Aeronautica Civil and brother of a former President of the Republic. Aerocondor's further expansion continued in early 1976 and the airline acquired three former American Airlines B707-123B . One of these aircraft ( HK-1818 ) was converted into a pure freighter, one of the few conversions of the type B707-120B. This particular aircraft was used almost exclusively between Medellin and Miami to support the lucrative flower export market that still exists between Colombia and the United States to this day . In the late 1970s, the company also began liquidating its L-188 Electra turboprop fleet . Two of these planes were sold to VARIG Brazilian Airlines, while the three remaining Electra planes were kept by the airline and converted into cargo planes .

First Airbus in Latin America

Airbus A300 of Aerocondor at San Francisco Airport 1978

1977 was a proud year for Aerocondor Colombia when the company entered the wide-body era with the acquisition of the brand new Airbus A300B4 named "Ciudad de Barranquilla" in honor of the airline's home port . This aircraft was the first wide-bodied Airbus A300B jet to be used by a Latin American airline. The aircraft entered service on highly competitive routes between Miami and Colombia. The plans to put a second Airbus A300B into operation in 1978 went unrealized.

Decline

In 1979 ownership of Aerocondor was again transferred to the brothers Cotes and Calderon. Shortly afterwards, the already financially strained airline got into a serious crisis, a situation that was more likely caused by poor controls and internal corruption. The Airbus A300B was eventually returned to its lessor. In May 1980 the company went bankrupt and ceased operations.

For a while, hopes remained that Aerocondor Colombia services could be restored, but negotiations between the pilots, bankruptcy administrators and the Colombian government failed to secure a rescue package and revitalize the company. The airline's fleet with the classic aircraft B707-120 and B720-B as well as the turboprops L-188 Electra remained on the ground and was removed from the Colombian aviation register. Eventually most of the remaining planes were cannibalized.

On June 16, 1985, Aerocondor de Colombia was liquidated. Years later, Aerocondor's bankruptcy is still one of the longest corporate bankruptcy proceedings in Colombia.

fleet

Fleet at the end of operations

When operations ceased in the summer of 1980, the active fleet consisted of

Previously deployed aircraft

In the course of its existence, Aerocondor Colombia has also used the following types of aircraft:

Incidents

With the identical Lockheed L-188 Electra, destroyed in 1973, the Aerocondor in Medellin , 1975

From 1955 until the end of operations in 1980, Aerocondor Colombia suffered seven total aircraft losses. In 4 of them 66 people were killed. Examples:

  • On August 27, 1973, a Lockheed L-188A Electra of Aerocondor Colombia (HK-777) was flown into a mountain about 12 kilometers southeast of the destination airport Bogota-Eldorado . All 42 inmates were killed.

literature

  • REG Davies: Airlines of Latin America since 1919. Putnam Aeronautical Books, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-889-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b Davies 1997, p. 250.
  2. Davies 1997, p. 248.
  3. Davies 1997, p. 251.
  4. Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international 80 . Zurich Airport 1980, p. 89.
  5. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1966–1980.
  6. rzjets: Aerocondor Colombia (English), accessed on January 5, 2019.
  7. ^ Aerocondor accident statistics , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 5, 2019.
  8. ^ Accident report L-1649 Starliner N7301C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 23, 2016.
  9. ^ Accident report L-188A HK-777 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Accident report CL-44 HK-1972 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 13, 2019.
  11. accident report L-188AF HK-1976 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 13 of 2019.
  12. ^ Accident report DC-6 HK-756 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 13, 2019.