TAPSA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS PERUANOS, S. A.): Peru (1946-1965). One of the longest surviving of Peru’s small independent airlines, TAPSA is formed at Lima in June 1946. With an initial fleet of 4 Avro Ansons and 4 Noorduyn Norsemen, revenue services are initiated in the summer over a route from the capital city to Iquitos via Trujillo and Tarapoto. Feeder services to and from Andean destinations are also undertaken.
Three Curtiss C-46As are acquired in mid-1958, and begin flying from Lima to Iquitos. With the coming of additional aviation services to the nation during the late 1950s, the carrier becomes unprofitable.
The entire original Curtiss fleet is lost during the first five months of 1959.
A C-46A with two crew is wrecked in a hard landing at Moyabamba, Peru, on January 4; there are no fatalities.
The second C-46A with two crew and three passengers fails its takeoff from Cuzco, Peru, on May 8 and makes a forced landing; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
The last operational C-46A with 2 crew and 10 passengers goes down 30 km. S of Tournavista, Peru, on May 13; there are no survivors.
By June, the carrier is operating only a single Curtiss Commando, acquired as a replacement at the end of the previous month.
TAPSA is forced to shut its doors in July 1961, but is able to resume operations later in the year with a Douglas DC-6 on a route from Lima to Santiago and Buenos Aires. Services end by 1965.
TAPSA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS PROFESSIONALAES, S. A.): Guatemala (1989-1996). TAPSA is established at Guatemala City in 1989 to provide air taxi and executive charter passenger flights to local and regional destinations. Revenue operations commence with a single Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante. A second Bandeirante is acquired in 1991 and operations continue apace.
While en route from Guatemala City on November 1, 1996, an EMB-110P1 with 2 crew and 12 passengers collides with a 900-ft. mountain near Santa Elena in bad weather; there are no survivors.
The airline, itself, is shut down shortly thereafter.
World History
