Is reorganized in 1963 and renamed in order to promote its status as a scheduled second-level airline. Two Douglas DC-4s ordered in 1962 are delivered and permission is received from the U. S. CAB to inaugurate scheduled passenger flights from LAT’s base at Bucaramanga to Bogota, Barranquilla, and Miami. The four-engine airliners undertake those international frequencies, while five DC-3s and four Curtiss C-46 Commandos continue to operate at home.
While on a March 8, 1964 domestic flight, a DC-3 crashes near Bogota (33 dead). The Douglas transports begin El Cafetero (The Coffee Tree) Florida service in October. Unable to achieve sufficient financial return on its domestic or international routes to pay for its new airliners, Taxader ceases operations in 1965.
TAXADER (TAXI AEREO DE SANTANDER, S. A.): Colombia (1947-1963). Dr. Herman Gomez-Gomez founds Taxader at Bucara-manga in 1947 to operate nonscheduled Cessna lightplane air taxi flights to Barranquilla and various unimproved destinations in Colombia’s northeast.
Following the failure of LANSA (Lineas Aereas Nacionales, S. A.) in 1954, Taxader begins to expand. Capitalization is raised to 3 million pesos ($250,000) and a fleet of 5 Douglas DC-3s is purchased. Over the next five to six years, a multistop route network is established linking Bogota with Bucaramanga and Barranquilla.
Three Curtiss C-46s configured for passenger service as “Super C-46Ts” are acquired in 1960. These aircraft allow the carrier to expand its route network over the next year from north to south, adding such destinations as Cali, Pereira, Cartagena, and San Andres Island.
Two DC-4s are purchased in 1962 and service is initiated to the Ecuadorian frontier towns of Pasto and Popoyan. Orders are placed for DC-6Bs. While on an August 23 domestic flight, a DC-3 with 31 aboard crashes at Barrancabermeja (18 dead). A second Douglas transport, with 24 aboard, also goes down near Barrancabermeja on December 6; again, there are no survivors.
The company is reorganized in 1963 and renamed Taxader (Lineas Aereas Taxader, S. A.), the better to market its status as a scheduled second-level carrier.
TAXI AEREO DE MEXICO, S. A. de C. V.: Toluca International Airport, Toluca, Mexico; Phone 52 83 28 62 80; Fax 52 83 28 62 40; Year Founded 1981. TADM is set up at Toluca in 1981 to provide executive and small group passenger services worldwide. By 2000, General Manager Julio Ituarte employs 4 full-time and 2 parttime pilots to fly his Canadair CL-601 Challenger and Learjet 35A Century III.
World History
