Nuevo Continente
| Nuevo Continente | |
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| IATA code : | N6 |
| ICAO code : | ACQ |
| Call sign : | AERO CONTINENTE |
| Founding: | 1992 (as Aero Continente) |
| Operation stopped: | 2005 |
| Seat: | |
| Fleet size: | 6th |
| Aims: | national |
| Nuevo Continente ceased operations in 2005. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
Nuevo Continente (until 2004 Aero Continente ) was a Peruvian airline based in Peru that ceased operations in 2005. It offered national and international charter and scheduled flights.
history
The company was founded on January 4, 1992 under the name Aero Continente in Tarapoto and began operations on May 25, 1992. With Tarapoto, a remote peripheral region in Peru was deliberately chosen to take advantage of tax advantages. Initially, charter flights were carried out for the US company Occidental Petroleum , which produced oil in Peru . From July 20, 1993, there were national scheduled flights .
In the beginning, the company felt the strong competition from the state Aeroperú . This, however, ran into economic difficulties and Aero Continente gained ground against its rival. In 1999, after the demise of Aeroperú, Aero Continente became the largest Peruvian airline.
Together with a Chilean investment group, Aero Continente Chile was founded towards the end of 1999 . However, the Chilean government accused the flight crew of using the new company as drug couriers , grounded the fleet in June 2002 and confiscated the assets. Aero Continente Chile declared bankruptcy and accused the government of deliberately damaging the company in favor of the former state-owned LAN Chile (today's LATAM Airlines ). As a result, the airline Aero Continente Dominicana was founded in the Dominican Republic .
In January 2004 the founder of Aero Continente, Fernando Zevallos, was banned from entering the USA . In the same year, the airline was banned from flying in the USA for safety reasons. On June 1, 2004, the company was blacklisted ( List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons ) in the United States , prohibiting Americans from trading with those affected. On the same day, US President George W. Bush described Zevallos as a “foreign narcotics kingpin” and imposed sanctions on him. The American government had long suspected society of laundering drug money . The company's officials denied these allegations.
The US embargo against Aero Continente brought them to their knees. The company's insurer, Global Aerospace , is partly owned by Americans and therefore broke off all business relationships with the airline. However, under Peruvian law, airline insurance is compulsory and as of July 12, 2004 , Aero Continente had to suspend all of its flights.
The owner Zevallos sold Aero Continente ten days later for 3.5 million US dollars, the Vuela Peru, a rescue company founded by the former employees. The company name was then changed to Nuevo Continente and domestic flights were resumed with a significantly reduced fleet. But this company was also blacklisted in the USA. And in 2005 Nuevo Continente no longer existed; she declared bankruptcy.
fleet
Fleet at the end of operations
The Nuevo Continente fleet in February 2005 consisted of:
- 3 Boeing 727-100
- 2 Boeing 737-200
- 1 Fokker F28 (stored in Lima)
Previously deployed aircraft
The following types of aircraft were also used before:
- Boeing 727-100
- Boeing 727-200
- Boeing 737-300
- Boeing 757
- Boeing 767
- Fairchild F-27
- Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (rented)
- British Aerospace Jetstream 31
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Flightglobal, All change for Peruvian carriers, September 1, 2004
- ↑ JP airline-fleets international, edition 2005/06
- ↑ rzjets: Nuevo Continente (English), accessed on October 18, 2019.