Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

Caribbean Budgies: Air BVI & Its HS748s

5/2/2020

The islands of the Caribbean have a rich and diverse civil aviation history, that is all too easily overlooked due to the small population size and limited operations of the airlines. This is a shame as air travel is vital to the region’s economy and I find the region exotic, and exciting. The December 2019 release of an Air BVI HS748, by Aeroclassics, gives me the opportunity to explore the history of this small airline from one of the last British Overseas Territories.

TACA: El Centromericano One-Elevens

12/6/2019

TACA had a complicated series of owners throughout its history, however these rarely stopped it from achieving and it was something of a trendsetter during the 50s and 60s as it introduced both the first prop-jets and true-jets in Central America. Its BAC One-Elevens would have long careers with it and form the backbone of its survival and success into the 1980s.

Cuban Commandos: Aerovias Q and Cuba Aeropostal

20/11/2018

Despite almost constant political turmoil and rampant corruption Cuba was, by the mid-1950s, doing well by many measures. Accordingly, civil aviation was also flourishing and there were no less than four commercial airlines operating in the postwar period funnelling passengers and freight between the US, Mexico and Cuba. Two of these were Aerovias Q and Cuba Aeropostal but neither would long survive the Cuban revolution.

Aviacsa Pt2: Pakal Falls

6/9/2018

Aviacsa entered into the 21st Century as Mexico’s leading private airline and a serious competitive force to the nationalised Mexicana and Aeroméxico. Unfortunately it was not able to establish itself as a permanent fixture due to its inability to finance fleet replacement and compete as a low cost rather than a low fares airline with the new breed of LCCs in Mexico such as Interjet and Volaris. Within 10 years Pakal would be dethroned.

Aviacsa Pt1: Pakal Expands

29/8/2018

Consorcio Aviacsa, S.A. de C.V. (commonly known as Aviacsa) grew from a struggling small regional airline into Mexico’s 3rd largest carrier during the first decade of deregulation, as competitors failed and Mexico’s economy see-sawed from feast to famine. Despite having regular issues with corruption and finances by 2000 it had survived and grown as a proud private Mexican airline still holding on to its Southern roots with King Pakal on its tails and a smile firmly on its face.

Big Bunny: XA-JEB’s Unusual Career

6/2/2018

Aeroclassics has firmly supported Mexican collectors in 2017 with a selection of great releases, one of which is an Aeroméxico DC-9-32. Looking into the particular aircraft’s history it is obvious that it was not chosen at random. For although Aeroméxico flew many DC-9s none had the unique back history of XA-JEB.

Bahamas Airways Pt2: Swire's Flamingo

20/9/2017

Bahamas Airways had for many years been rather a thorn in the side of BOAC and by 1968 the British flag carrier was keen to extricate itself from the perenially loss making airline. It succeeded and initially the future looked, literally, bright, however the rebirth was ultimately only a short-lived affair and the Bahamian government was left to look for an alternative.

Bahamas Airways Pt 1: Money for Nothing

18/9/2017

Following WW2 the UK still owned a vast empire. Britain's flag carrier BOAC continued to play an important role in supporting and equipping infant airline adventures within many of the Empire's formative nations. BOAC's foray in the Bahamas created a reliable airline, but one that could never quite match up to the competition and consistently failed to make any money.

TAESA Pt3: DC-9 Disaster

12/2/2017

TAESA had come through the crisis of the mid-90s albeit with a large debt burden, modified ownership and a much older fleet of aircraft. Moving into 1998 TAESA had a bright new livery and began to take delivery of new aircraf too. If it could just capitalise on this then it still could be the standard bearer for competition in the Mexican market.

TAESA Pt2: Old is New

10/2/2017

After 5 years of operations Transportes Aéreos Ejecutivos (TAESA) had appeared to carve itself a strong and profitable position in both the Mexican domestic scheduled and international charter markets. It was a well run airline with a large modern fleet that was going places. Unfortunately events outside of its control would lead to drastic retrenchment and a fight for survival, but not before it attempted a crazy transpacific gamble.

TAESA Pt1: The Little Airline That Could

8/2/2017

TAESA (Transportes Aéreos Ejecutivos) Lineas Aéreas was begun in April 1988 operating executive jets and began scheduled passenger operations in 1989. It was the brainchild of the then 36 year old pilot Alberto Abed and the powerful Mexican industrialist Carlos Hank Rhon as a vehicle to create a competitor to the duopoly of Mexicana and Aeromexico in the newly deregulated Mexican market. It grew quickly but the 90s would prove a rocky time for airlines in Mexico.

Flight 455 & the Cuban DC-8s

30/1/2017

Communist Cuba has been largely cutoff from the West for over 50 years with some form of detente only beginning very recently. Canada has however had good relations with Castro's regime for much of this time and a controversial deal to provide American built Douglas DC-8s to Cubana would lead to a heinous crime being perpetrated, if not with the acceptance of the USA at the very least right under their noses.

Aeronaves De México Pt4: Eights Into the Eighties

5/7/2016

Aeronaves De México had had a rather torrid entry of service of its DC-8s (as discussed in part 3) but after it crashed its first 3 it managed to keep the rest in the air. Even so the late 1960s was not a successful period for the airline, which would need to be recapitalised and renamed in the 70s so that Cuauhtli could carry on flying. The DC-8 would continue to be an important component of the fleet into the 1980s by which time once again bankruptcy loomed.

Aeronaves De México Pt3: Cuauhtli's Bumpy Jet Ride

1/7/2016

By the end of the 1950s Aeronaves De México was on the lookout for more modern equipment than the two Britannias and trusty Sixes. In July 1960 a DC-8 took a Douglas sales team, including Mr Douglas Sr, to the Mexican capital on a demonstration tour. The trip was successful as a pair of DC-8-50s was ordered and in the interim prior to their delivery a single new DC-8-21 was purchased from the production line.

Aeronaves De México Pt2: Cuauhtli Goes International

29/6/2016

Aeronaves De México finally became a major airline in late 1957 when it began its first international route connecting Mexico City with New York. The service began on December 16 using the pair of leased Pan Am L-049s, however after only two days the Connies were substituted for something grander - the Whispering Giant.