SAN (SERVICIOS AEREOS NACIONALES, S. A.): P. O. Box 7138, Km 2 1/2, Av. Carlos Julio Arrosemena, Guayaquil, Ecuador; Phone 593 (4) 202 832; Fax 593 (4) 201 152; Code WB; Year Founded 1964. Privately owned SAN is formed as an air taxi at Cuenca’s Mariscal Lamar Airport on January 20, 1964. Nonscheduled Douglas DC-3 flight operations commence on May 1 linking Cuenca with Macas via Sucua. Regularly scheduled services commence in October 1967 when a route is opened to Guayaquil; a year later, the company is moved to the nation’s second city. In 1969, Tulcan is added to the route network.
In the summer of 1970, two Vickers Viscount 828s are purchased from All Nippon Airways Company, Ltd. and are employed to launch direct Cuenca to Quito flights in December. Loja and Machala now join the route network and several Viscount 764Ds are acquired.
In November 1975, three Sud-Est SE-210 Caravelle VIRs are acquired from TAP Air Portugal, S. A.
In direct competition with the shuttle flown by the three Caravelles of SAETA (Sociedad Aerea Ecuatoriana de Transports Aereos, S. A.), SAN, in January 1976, places its French-made jetliners on the Guayaquil-Quito trunk line.
En route from Guayaquil to Cuenca in poor weather on December 29, 1977, a Vickers Viscount 764D with 4 crew and 20 passengers crashes into a hill; there are no survivors.
Traffic increases while employment at President Salvador Pacheco Mora’s company grows to 75 by 1978. Two more Caravelles are purchased during the year from Luxair, S. A.
Increasing fuel prices and the competition with SAETA (Sociedad Aerea Ecuatoriana de Transports Aereos, S. A.) in 1979-1981 lead to a company decision to operate only scheduled jetliner service and only between the country’s three largest cities, Cuenca, Guayaquil, and Quito.
In early 1981, a Boeing 727-17 is obtained in exchange for a Viscount 828, a DC-3, and two of the last three Caravelles. The American-made trijet enters service in July, at which time company employment stands at 140.
Operations continue apace without incident in 1982.
While on final approach to Guayaquil on April 29, 1983, the fleet’s last SE-210 Caravelle VIR, with 6 crew and 94 passengers, suffers loss of engine power, requiring a forced landing; as the aircraft hits, it breaks into 3 parts. Eight people are killed and dozens of people are injured.
The company’s route and service arrangements change hardly at all over the next decade, although a frequency is opened to the Galapagos Islands and a second B-727-17 is leased for a brief period. In 1993, President Patricio Suarez Albuja’s 180-employee airline still flies just 1 airplane, linking Guayaquil with Quito and Cuenca, plus the Galapagos.
Services are maintained without change during the remainder of the decade. A total of 150 workers are employed at the beginning of 2000.
World History
