AEROTACA AEROTAXI CASANARE (AEROTRANSPORTES CASANARE, LTDA.): Aeropuerto El Dorado, Entrada 1, Bogota, Colombia; Phone 57 (1) 413 9884; Fax 57 (1) 413 5256; Code AT; Year Founded 1965. Aerotaca is established by the Urdaneta family at Bogota in early 1965 to serve as an FBO and maintenance concern. A charter/air taxi division is also established to provide on-demand passenger and freight services. Flight operations are started and continued with lightplanes as well as several de Havilland Canada DHC Twin Otters.
While descending to Vereda el Salitre on a service from El Yopal on June 11, 1989, a DHC-6-300 with 2 crew and 20 passengers crashes into a hill (6 dead). Nonscheduled flights are maintained without further incident in 1990-1991.
A scheduled airline division is created in 1992 in order that regularly offered commuter services might be provided. The company enterprise continues to be operated under the chairmanship of Antonio Urdaneta.
Revenue operations by General Manager Alejandro Salamanca’s third-level airline commence with the three leased de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otters previously employed for charters. Markets served include Arauca, Cimitarra, El Yopal, Malaga, Sabana de Torres, Santa Posa, Sogamoso, Tame, and Villanueva.
En route from Bogota to Bucaramanga on May 16, a Twin Otter with 16 passengers is taken over by armed hijackers, who kill three security guards and toss their bodies out of a door. The aircraft is forced to land at Fortul, where the remaining passengers are released. The Canadian-built turboprop then takes off—and vanishes.
In 1993, airline employment stands at 128 and the fleet is increased by the addition of 1 each Beech King Air 90 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227D.
While on approach to El Yopal on a June 6 all-cargo service from Bogota, a DHC-6-300 with two crew smashes into a 3,000-ft, cloud-covered hill 5 km. from the runway; there are no survivors.
One Twin Otter is withdrawn in 1994 as a Cessna 206 is received and an Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia is ordered. A new route is stretched to Yautamena and Mauricio Hoyas becomes the new general manager.
Operations continue apace in 1995-1998. During these years, Rafael Urdaneta becomes general manager, the workforce grows to 135, and hubs are opened at Bucaramanga and El Yopai. Additional destinations visited include Monterrey, Orocue, Puerto Berrio, Saravena, Velasquez, and San Jose del Guaviare.
The Brasilia is not received, being replaced instead with a leased SAAB 340B first flown by Aer Lingus Commuter, Ltd., the regional subsidiary of Aer Lingus Irish Airlines, Ltd.
While en route from Bucaramanga to Malaga on April 8, 1999, a DHC-6-300 with 2 crew and 3 passengers crashes into a fog-shrouded La Caida hill near its destination; there are no survivors.
Two Beech 1900Cs are leased from Raytheon Aircraft Company during the first week of January 2000. Upon delivery, they are employed on regional services to Colombian cities.
AEROTAL COLOMBIA (AEROLINEAS TERRITORIALES DE COLOMBIA, S. A.): Colombia (1971-1983). TAL (Taxi Aereo Lianero, S. A.) is formed at Bogota in 1971 to offer nonscheduled DC-3 passenger and freight service to various nearby towns. The company is reorganized in 1975, changes its name to Aerotal Colombia, and initiates scheduled passenger services with its fleet of two DC-3s and a newly received DC-4. Orders are now placed for jetliners as major expansion begins.
A fleet of 4 Sud-Est Caravelle VIRs is purchased from LanChile Airlines (Linea Aerea Nacional Chile, S. A.) and is employed in 1976-1979 to inaugurate trunk service between all of Colombia’s major cities from its base at Villevicencio. Three are delivered in 1977 and the fourth in 1978; they join a fleet which also includes 1 DC-4, 2 DC-3s, 2 Cessna 206s, and 1 Pilatus Porter.
A Sud-Est SE-210 Caravelle VIR with 6 crew and 51 passengers suffers the loss of its hydraulic systems soon after takeoff from Bogota on July 20, 1979. The aircraft is able to return to its point of origin and make a successful emergency landing, during which it leaves the runway and comes to a stop in a canal. Although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
While being tested at Bogota on January 24, 1980, a DC-3 with four crew suffers engine failure and crashes; there are no survivors.
Later in the spring, a Boeing 707-331C is purchased from Trans World Airlines (TWA) and is employed to begin all-cargo freight services to Miami and the Caribbean.
The Stratofreighter with 3 crew and 1 passenger encounters heavy rain while on final approach to Bogota on December 20 and crashes, catching fire; all aboard safely evacuate.
By 1981, the route network includes stops at Barranquilla, Bogota, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartegena, Cucuta, Medellin, Pasto, Pereira, San Andres Island, and Santa Marta.
The fleet is revised in 1982 as the Caravelles are replaced by three Boeing 727-021s; another B-707-331C freighter is also acquired.
On January 7, a lone assailant takes over a B-727-021 en route from Santa Marta to Barranquilla, and orders the release from prison of his brother, convicted of hijacking four years earlier. The man is captured by his fellow passengers and, when the plane arrives at his destination, is handed over to police. Tried, he is sentenced to prison and joins his brother.
Before the changeover is completed, M-19 guerrillas hijack a Car-avelle with 128 aboard on January 27 and force it to fly to Cali, where they release 47 hostages. The plane then crashes into an army truck during its attempted takeoff and the pirates threaten to blow up their captives and the damaged aircraft if not given another. After exchanging the remaining hostages for an escape plane next morning, the guerrillas fly to Cuba via the Colombian resort island of San Andres aboard a corporate jet.
A DC-3 with 22 aboard crashes near Quetame, Colombia, during a rainstorm on December 1; there are no survivors.
Increased fuel prices and the world economic recession having conspired to lower traffic and financial rewards since 1979, the carrier is forced to suspend flight operations and declare bankruptcy in 1983.
Although plans are made to reorganize and attempt to resume services in 1984, they do not come to fruition. In the aftermath of the bankruptcy and subsequent litigation, several aircraft are simply left to rot on the runway of the former company base.
AEROTAXI STOCK LEASING COMPANY: 9 Pilot Street, St. Petersburg, 196210, Russia; Phone 7 (812) 178275; Fax 7 (812) 1272771; Year Founded 1996. ASLC is established by Anatoli A. Khvostovski at St. Petersburg in 1996 to offer executive and small group passenger charters. Revenue flights begin and continue with a single Yakovlev Yak-40D.
World History
