Privately held AB is established at Dhaka in July 1995 to offer non-scheduled services to local destinations. It has the distinct honor of being the first private airline founded in Bangladesh.
Flights commence during the summer with a pair of Chinese-made Harbin Y-12s.
Service continues in 1996-1999, although the company during the latter year begins to fade in the face of competition from the nation’s two newer airlines, Air Parabat, Ltd. and GMB Airlines, Ltd.
AERO CALIFORNIA SERVICIOS AEREOS, S. A. de C. V.: Apartado Postal 555, Hidalgo 316, La Paz, Baja California Sur, 23000, Mexico; Phone 52 (112) 26-655; Fax 52 (112) 539-93; Code JR; Year Founded 1982. Originally established in 1960 as a nonsched-uled air taxi concern by the Arechiga family employing Beech 18s, Aero California is reorganized at La Paz in the Baja California peninsula in June 1982 to provide scheduled flights to destinations in western Mexico. Equipped with a fleet comprising 1 Aero Commander, 1 Convair CV-340, 4 Douglas DC-3s, 1 Beech 18, 1 Cessna 402, 2 Cessna 206s, and miscellaneous other Cessna single-engine types, the carrier inaugurates flights linking its base with the following stops: Cabo San Lucas, Guadalajara, Guaymas, Hermosillo, Loreto, Los Mochis, Mulege, Santa Rosalita, and Tijuana.
Operations continue apace in 1983-1985. While on initial approach to Los Mochis on a service from Villa Constitucion on January 29, 1986, a DC-3 with 3 crew and 18 passengers, goes below minimum altitude and is required to go aground. The crew attempts to land in fog at Las Lomi-tas, a small, unused private airport, but crashes in the process. There are no survivors.
Painted in a colorful new livery, the first Douglas DC-9-15 is added in 1988, replacing a DC-3, and Tucson becomes a market in 1989.
By 1990, General Manager Raul Arechiga Espinoza has acquired 3 additional DC-9-15s. A national carrier in 1991, Aero California, S. A. flies 10 DC-9-15s from Mexico City to points in northwest Mexico. It also begins a penetration of the North American market, flying travelers from Phoenix, San Diego, and Los Angeles to the resorts at La Paz, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.
The Convair and DC-3s are retired in 1992 and, in 1993, the 4 Dash-14s and 6 Dash-15s are all leased; no flight equipment is owned directly. GM Espinoza oversees a workforce that totals 916 as both scheduled and charter flights are continued.
Two chartered DC-9-32s are acquired in 1994. At the end of April, the company joins with several other regionals and TAESA (Trans-portes Aereos Ejecutivos, S. A. de C. V.) in a merger of support services designed to make the carriers more competitive with Aeromex-ico (2) (Aerovias de Mexico, S. A. de C. V.) and Mexicana Airlines, S. A. de C. V. Under the arrangement, the carriers share reservation systems, maintenance facilities, ticketing, airport facilities, hangars, and work crews.
The last Cessna and Beech 18 are retired in 1995. Services continue apace with a fleet of 11 DC-9-14/15s and 5 DC-9-32s as the decade draws to a close. Destinations visited include Aguascalientes, Ciudad Juarez, Ciudad Obregon, Ciudad Victoria, Colima, Culiacan, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Loretto, Los Angeles, Los Mochis, La Paz, Manzanillo, Matamoros, Mazatlan, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla, San Diego, Torreon, Tijuana, and Tucson.
In 1996-1997, airline employment stands at 1,800 and the company undertakes 120 daily flights to 25 domestic points, plus Los Angeles, Dallas, Tucson, and Fort Worth.
The carrier begins code-sharing with American Airlines on January 5, 1998. The AA code is placed on Aero California transborder flights from Los Angeles to Culiacan, Durango, Hermosillo, La Paz, and Tor-reon and from Tucson to Hermosillo.
Dual-designator flights with American Airlines expanded on April 20. The U. S. major places its code on the Mexican line’s flights from Los Angeles to Loretto, Tijuana, and Manzanillo. Aero California continues to seek government approval to place its “JR” code on American services from Mexico to U. S. gateways and beyond.
Service is maintained in 1999-2000.
AERO CARDAL AIR SERVICES, LTDA.: Avienda Jose Arrieta 7808, Correo Central, Casilla 9630, La Reima, Santiago, Chile; Phone 56 (2) 279-3535; Fax 56 (2) 279-4272; Http://www. turismochile. cl/ aerocardal; Code CD; Year Founded 1989. Alex Casasempere founds ACASL at Santiago in 1989 to offer nonscheduled charter services tailored to the requirements of customers, many of whom are executives. Ricardo Espinosa is named operations director and a staff of 25 is recruited. The fixed - and rotary-wing fleet will come to include 1 each Cessna Citation II, Cessna Conquest II, Fairchild Dornier 228-200, Bell 206 Long-Ranger, and Messerschmit Boelkow BO-105.
Revenue flights begin and continue throughout Chile and to destinations in both South and North America in an effort to satisfy an increasing Chilean demand for air transportation to domestic destinations not visited by scheduled airlines. Over the next six years, the company flies a wide variety of passengers, from ambassadors and government representatives to officials and senior executives of such corporations as Exxon, BHP, Shell, and the American Oil Company.
In addition to passenger transport, the company also operates air ambulance flights, geology explorations, topographic surveys, and aerial photography. Employing a Boelkow BO-105 helicopter, it also assists the electric industry in hanging power lines.
The fixed-wing fleet in 1998-2000 includes 1 each Cessna 550 Citation II, a C-441 Conquest, a Dornier 228-100, and a Piper PA-34 Seneca.
AERO CARGA, S. A. de C. V.: Mexico (1950-1975). Aero Carga is established at Aeropuerto El Cipres at Ensenada, Mexico, in 1950 to fly all-cargo services to and from Mexico City on a partially scheduled basis. Revenue flights commence with a pair of Curtiss C-46 Commando freighters. Another Commando will be added during the next decade.
Operations continue without significant change until 1967, when the company transfers its base to Tijuana and adds roundtrip passenger services to Merida with a pair of Douglas DC-6s. Cargo work ceases in 1969 with the sale of the Commandos. Flights continue until 1975.
AERO CARIBBEAN OF CUBA: Calle 23, No. 113, Vedado, Havana, Cuba; Phone 53 (7) 337-096; Fax 53 (7) 335-016; Http://www. cubaweb. cu/aerocari/haerocai. html; Code CR; Year Founded 1985.
This government-controlled company is formed late in 1985 to offer international charter services. The initial fleet comprises 1 Douglas DC-853, 1 Bristol Britannia 318, and 1 Antonov An-26. Services expand during the remainder of the decade and both domestic and South American destinations are serviced.
By the early 1990s, the fleet of President Ing Jorge Falcon’s Havana-based carrier has been expanded to include 6 An-26s, 4 Ilyushin Il-18Ds, 3 Douglas DC-3s (the only 3 operational U. S. aircraft on the island), and 3 Yakovlev Yak 40s.
Operating a chess players’ charter from Havana to Puerto Plata on November 15, 1992, an Il-18D with 6 crew and 28 passengers, fails to follow ATC orders for a missed approach and crashes into a mountain near Puerto Plata at the 1,845-ft. level and explodes; there are no survivors.
En route from Havana to Baradero on December 29, an An-26 with 53 passengers is diverted to Miami. There, all but five of the aircraft’s occupants seek political asylum. The five and their aircraft are allowed to return to Cuba next day.
The number of aircraft is cutback due to both the world and Cuban recessions and in 1993, President Julian Alvarez Infiesta’s fleet comprises 4 An-26s, 3 DC-3s, and 1 Yak-40. The fleet is increased in 1994 by the addition of 2 Yak 40 s and 3 Ilyushin Il-18s.
Services continue in 1995-1998. On October 19 of the latter year, a new weekly roundtrip service is inaugurated between Havana and Guatemala City.
More foreign tourists ride the aging Russian equipment as the new millennium begins.
AERO CHACO (LINEAS AEREAS CHAQUENAS, S. A.): Argentina (1958-1986). Aero Chaco is founded at Resistencia, in Chaco Province, in late 1958. Capitalization is provided by the Aero Club of Chaco and the provincial government, with the latter eventually holding 99% of all shares. The initial fleet comprises 2 de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers, which are used for demonstration flights to local destinations during the remainder of the year.
In early 1959, preparations for scheduled services are undertaken, including the acquisition of 3 DHC-6-100 Twin Otters. Revenue flights begin in on September 18 over a route to Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena. By year’s end, the third-level operation has qualified for a subsidy from the national government.
During the 1960s and 1970s, services are maintained linking the base with Psadas, Ighazu, Santa Fe, Cordoba, Salta, Jujuy, La Roja, San Juan, and Mendoza.
Although financial backing is now also provided by the state governments of Santa Fe, Misiones, and Formosa, there are few operational or equipment changes (save the 1968 addition of 3 de Havilland Canada DHC-6-100 Twin Otters) until 1978 when a pair of Fairchild Hiller FH-227Bs are purchased in Brazil and the Twin Otters are sold to the Argentine Air Force.
In 1981, General Manager Ing. Jose Antonio Dimarco’s airline employs 140 workers. Enplanements total 16,656. Increased costs (led by fuel) and fluctuating traffic levels, together with the costs of preparations to expand into 16 states of northern Argentina, cause significant financial distress beginning in 1982. In that year, passenger bookings fall to only 9,423.
By the time revived boarding totals (13,750) for 1983 can be announced, deterioration has set in, as demonstrated by a suspension of services to Jujuy and San Juan in 1984. Early in 1985, the carrier is renamed ALFA (Aerolinea Federal Argentina, S. A.).
AERO CHARTA DARTA, S. A.: Aeroport de Paris, Le Bourget, France; Phone 33 (01) 48 62 54 54; Fax 33 (01) 48 62 41 43; http:// www. w3i. com/eng/transport/avion/DARTA. htm;Http://altern. com/ darta; Year Founded 1971. ACD is established at Paris (LBG) in 1971 to provide executive and small group passenger series for French and foreign companies, travel and transport professionals, press and television bureaus, VIPs, and tourists.
Services begin from Toussus Le Noble Airport in 1983 and Lognes-Emeraineville Airport in 1990. By 1998-2000, the Learjet operator also offers services from Toulouse.
AERO CHARTER: 18369 Edison Ave., Suite 100, Chesterfield, Missouri 63005, United States; Phone (314) 537-0005; Fax (314) 5379291; Http://www. aerocharter. com; Year Founded 1965. Aero Charter is established at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in 1965 to offer local ad hoc charters in the St. Louis area. Over the next 35 years, the company becomes a significant executive and small group operator and, by 2000, it employs 10 full-time and five part-time pilots. The company houses 2 each North American NA-265-65 Sabreliners and Beech 58 Barons, plus 1 each Beech Super King Air 200 and Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain at its Missouri facility. It also bases 1 Sabreliner at Detroit (DTT) and 2 others at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
World History
