Avianca El Salvador informations and photos

Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (Air Transports of the American Continent, known and branded formerly as TACA International), operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings based in El Salvador. As TACA, it still currently operates as the flag carrier of El Salvador. As Avianca El Salvador, it is one of the seven national branded airlines in the Avianca Group of Latin American airlines, and has been in operation for 75 years.

TACA owned and operated five other airlines in Central America, and its name was originally an acronym meaning Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos (Central American Air Transport), but this was changed to Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano (Air Transport of the American Continent), reflecting its expansion to North, Central, South America and the Caribbean.

On October 7, 2009, it was announced that TACA would merge with Avianca, though TACA maintained its name until the merger was officially completed on May 21, 2013. TACA was the second-oldest continuously operating airline brand in Central America and the Caribbean after Cubana de Aviación.

TACA was founded in 1931 in Honduras by New Zealander Lowell Yerex. TACA began operations with a single-engine Stinson plane. Since its beginnings, routes covered all the national territory and its aircraft sported the XH Mexican registration (which were changed later by HR). The idea of its founder was to establish one airline in each Latin-American country, such as Aerovias Brasil in Brazil and other TACAs in Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. Out of all the TACA franchise airlines created, only TACA International of El Salvador survived.

As a consequence, in 1945 Yerex left the company and TACA moved its headquarters to the Republic of El Salvador where it was modernized and expanded, the company then established investment groups in other Latin American countries to be sold to domestic airlines, which in the case of Honduras TACA was sold to SAHSA. Later TACA was organized as an international company having its headquarters in San Salvador only under the name of TACA International.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the airline began to acquire larger piston engine airliners including the Douglas DC-3 and the Douglas DC-4. The Vickers Viscount turboprop passenger airliner followed in order to expand its route network around the Americas.

On December 28, 1966, TACA International entered the jet age when it inaugurated their first jet, a BAC One Eleven (which was a popular twin jet airplane at the time with other airlines in Latin America). The aircraft model was used until June 1, 1988, when it was phased out in favor of the Boeing 737-200 aircraft. The Lockheed L-188 Electra four engine turboprop airliner was operated from 1976 by TACA Air Cargo including freight flights to Miami, Florida.

Until 1980, TACA was owned by a United States company and had its corporate headquarters in New Orleans (due to the civil war raging in El Salvador) under the administration of the Kriete Family of El Salvador, who owned a minority stock and ended up buying all the shares.

According to the July 1983 TACA route map, the air carrier was operating jet service to four destinations in the U.S. from Central America including Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New Orleans). The airline also made several upgrades to its fleet during the 1980s by replacing the older turboprops as well as BAC One Eleven jetliners with more efficient aircraft, such as the Boeing 737-200 Advanced and 737-300 with the latter type being a member of the Boeing 737 Classic series. TACA later operated wide body Boeing 767-200s and 767-300s on its scheduled passenger services including international flights to Los Angeles and Miami.

Between 1940 and 1995, TACA bought the majority shares of the flag carrier airlines; Aviateca, LACSA, and Nicaragüense de Aviación, consolidating operations under a new brand group name, Grupo TACA.

In the 1990s, TACA International became the launch customer and principal users of the Airbus A320 in Latin America. These aircraft were substitutes for the aging Boeing 737-200 and the 737-300/-400 series aircraft that were on the fleet, which were gradually retired until 1999.

In 1992, TACA signed a strategic alliance with Panama-based Copa Airlines, and the airline began flying to Tocumen International Airport, making it the first flight connection center in Latin America. As a consequence, Tocumen airport
became the "Hub of the Americas" and the integration of several Latin American airlines to the alliance took place. The alliance ended in 1998 after the six-year period established in the agreement expired.

Then in 2001, having its main hubs in San Salvador and San Jose, the airline set an operations base at Lima, Peru, its first base in South America, causing as a consequence the founding of TACA Perú, of which TACA had 49% shares at. With this new addition, Grupo TACA began to offer a comprehensive network of routes throughout the Americas.

In 2005, TACA International was one of the founding members of the Mexican airline Volaris. In the same year, TACA became the first airline of Latin America to operate the Airbus A321.

In 2008 the board of directors decided to revert to the original name, TACA International (since the consolidation of the acquired airlines was completed), and the airline' headquarters returned to San Salvador, El Salvador to a new building which was inaugurated shortly afterwards. Also, it revealed a renovation in its corporate image.

That same year, TACA became the second user of the Brazilian Embraer 190 in Latin America.

In October 7, 2009, it was announced that TACA International would merge its assets in a strategic alliance with Colombian airline Avianca, in which case each will maintain its own trademark and operations. Avianca and TACA International operated a combined fleet of 129 aircraft, serving over 100 destinations in several countries in America and Europe. In December 2009 approval for the merger was given by the Colombian Civil Aeronautical Agency. The merger of Colombia's Avianca and El Salvador-based TACA is the latest sign that consolidation in the Latin American airline sector is picking up.

Brazil's Embraer, Canada's Bombardier Aerospace, and the Airbus A318 were being considered for the replacement.

In June 2011, AviancaTACA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 51 A320 Family aircraft, including 33 eco-efficient A320neo. Once firm, the order will be the largest order for A320neo in the region and also the biggest from a single airline in the history of Airbus in Latin America.

In December 2012, the airline made a firm order to ATR for 15 ATR 72-600 aircraft with a total value of 700 million dollars and the deliveries to start June 2013. The purpose of this purchase is to replace the aging Fokker 50 aircraft.

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