Grupo TACA

Infobox_Airline
airline=TACA

logo_size=140
fleet_size=39 (+9 orders)
destinations=50+
IATA=TA
ICAO=TAI
callsign=TACA
parent=Grupo TACA
founded=1931
headquarters=San Salvador, El Salvador
key_people=Roberto Kriete (CEO), Alfredo Schildknecht (President),
hubs=

*Cuscatlan Int'l Airport
*Jorge Chávez Int'l Airport
*Juan Santamaría Int'l Airport

secondary_hubs =

*La Aurora International Airport

focus_cities=

*Miami International Airport
*Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport

frequent_flyer=Distancia
lounge=Salones VIP
alliance=
website= http://www.taca.com

TACA is the flag carrier of Central America, headquartered in San Salvador, El Salvador. Comprised by a group of five combined Central American airlines, originally an acronym of "Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos" (Central American Air Transport), it now stands for "Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano" (Air Transport of the American Continent), reflecting its expansion to North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. It flies to 39 destinations in 22 different countries.

The five airlines are:

* Aviateca (Guatemala)
* Lacsa (Costa Rica)
* NICA (Nicaragua)
* Taca International (El Salvador)
* Taca de Honduras (Honduras)

Lacsa is the only airline of the group that still operates flights with its own flight numbers. Its hub is at Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica. TACA Peru is now an important member of the group. It operates to TACA, flights to Perú and South America.

ervice

.

Taca has scheduled flights to some airports in the Western Hemisphere, but it also has charter flights from Juan Santamaría International Airport to Cancún International Airport and to San Andrés, Colombia. Its three flight hubs or "Centros de Conexiones" are: [ [http://www.taca.com/eng/oth/oabo/oaboroumap.asp Map of routes - TACA.COM] ]
* Comalapa International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador
* Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Peru
* Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica.

Taca's headquarters are in San Salvador, El Salvador, moving from New Orleans in 1982. [ [http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/frheft/FRHeft06/FRH0610/FR0610a.htm FLUG REVUE October 2006: Taca thrives with Airbus fleet] ]

Taca's regional airlines system includes the following airlines:
* Aeroperlas (Panama)
* Interregional (Guatemala) (Formerly Aviateca)
* Islena Airlines (Honduras)
* La Costeña (Nicaragua)
* SANSA (Costa Rica)

History

Taca was founded in Honduras in 1931 by New Zealander Lowell Yerex. TACA was once the "world's largest cargo carrier."

Between 1989 and 1995 it built a strategic alliance with the flag airlines of Guatemala (AVIATECA), Costa Rica (LACSA), and Nicaragua (NICA), consolidating operations under the name of GRUPO TACA.

Destinations

"Main Article:" "'TACA destinations, Lacsa destinations, TACA Peru destinations

Taca has a total of 50 destinations around the world and continues to grow. The Los Angeles mayor will ask Taca to open a San Salvador-Ontario route. Also, the recent San Jose-Santo Domingo route will be increased from 4 weekly to 7 weekly.

*The hub at Comalapa International Airport makes connections between all of Central America and North America (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, New York, Miami, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, Mexico City, Oakland [service discontinued] ) as well as Lima, Perú.
*The Lacsa's hub at Juan Santamaría International Airport is in charge of the Caribbean routes (Havana and Santo Domingo), South America (Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Lima) also 3 US cities (Los Angeles, New York and Miami) and all of Central America.
*The hub at Jorge Chavez International Airport is in charge of all connections to the South American routes and serves El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

This system gives TACA an excellent coverage of all the continent.

Fleet

As of 29 September 2008 the Taca fleet includes [Flight International, 3-9 October 2007] :

The A321s are used in the higher density routes: San Salvador-Mexico City, San Salvador-Los Angeles, San Salvador-Miami, Managua-Miami, San Jose-San Salvador, San Jose-Panama, San Jose-Bogotá, Lima-Caracas, Lima-Buenos Aires. The average fleet age is 3.8 years old in September 2008. [ [http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/TACA.htm TACA Fleet Age] ]

Taca's old logo was five golden macaws flying in formation, representing the five original constituent airlines. Each airline flies similar aircraft in similar paint schemes, but retains its own name on the fuselage.

Historic fleet

Taca has operated some of the following types:

*Stinson Reliant
*Bellanca CH-400 Skyrocket (The [http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/impacto/graphic/aviation/graphic_companies3.html Smithsonian] keeps a photo of TACA's Bellanca)
*Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor (The [http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/fordtri.htm Smithsonian] keeps one of TACA's actual Fords)
*Douglas DC-4
*Lockheed 18 Lodestar (The [http://www.1940airterminal.org/hangar/lodestar/lodestar31g.htm Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society] keeps one of TACA's actual Lockheeds)
*Vickers Viscount 768
*BAC 1-11
*Boeing 737
*Boeing 767-200ER (N767TA, N762TA)
*Boeing 767-300ER (N768TA, N769TA, N770TA)

Subsidiaries and alliances

Distancia is Taca's frequent flyer program. It also has a corporate incentive program called Avancia that can be converted 1-to-1 to "Distancia" miles.

In addition to earning miles on Taca and Taca Regional flights, Taca has partnerships with the following airlines:

*Aerosur
*Air France
*Avianca
*Iberia Airlines
*Lufthansa
*TAM Linhas Aéreas
*United Airlines

On 23 May 2007, Lufthansa and Taca signed a memorandum of understanding to code share on domestic and international flights. Taca and Lufthansa are also considering reciprocal mileage earning in their respective frequent flyer programs, and reciprocal lounge access. [cite web |url=http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/html/presse/pressemeldungen/index.html?c=nachrichten/app/show/en/2007/05/686/HOM&s=0 |title=TACA and Lufthansa ponder joint services, Lufthansa press release, 23 May 2007 |accessdate=2007-05-23]

Incidents and accidents

All three of the following incidents occurred in very poor weather conditions:

May 24, 1988, New Orleans, Louisiana, Boeing 737-3T0: TACA Flight 110: A double engine flameout due to water ingestion, a result of an inflight encounter with an area of very heavy rain and hail. The design of the engines and FAA water ingestion certification standards did not take account of the waterfall rates that can be expected in moderate or higher intensity thunderstorms. [http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X25693&key=1 NTSB Report]

April 5, 1993, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Boeing 767-200, Flight 510: The jet landed on a rain-slicked runway at too fast a speed which resulted in the plane running off the end of the runway. There were no fatalities reported and only a few passengers had any injuries. This accident is notable in that it was caught on video inside the cabin. [http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/1993/A93_66_68.pdf NTSB Report] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqJ3XQJf9ok Video of a passenger on the aircraft at the time of the accident]

May 30, 2008, Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Airbus A320 EI-TAF: TACA Flight 390, from San Salvador overran the runway in approach to Tegucigalpa Airport, with extreme weather conditions. There were five fatalities, three of which were passengers. [cite news |title=Plane skids off runway in Honduras, 5 dead |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN3029714820080530 |publisher=Reuters |date=May 30 2008 |accessdate=2008-05-30] . The cause of this accident is still under investigation.

References

External links

* [http://www.taca.com Official site]
* [http://www.aeroman.com.sv/ Aeroman]