Category: Airlines Of C America

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.

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Aeronaves De México Pt1: Cuauhtli Takes Flight

27/6/2016

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Aeronaves De México was established on 15th September 1934, but it wasn’t until September 12, 1940, when Pan Am purchased a 40% stake, that it began to go places. At that point it still was a one route airline connecting Mexico City to Acapulco using a variety of single engined aircraft like Stinson Reliants. The Pan Am stake substantially increased the young airline's capital base and allowed the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 247Ds enabling the single route to go daily from September 30, 1941.

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Sunjet Tristars: BWIA in the 1980/90s

10/5/2016

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British West Indies Airways, the national airline of Trinidad & Tobago, had entered the 1970s in poor shape, been turned around by a consultancy form only to fall back into bad habits as the decade closed. Nonetheless the new long haul choice, the Tristar 500, was well suited to the long thin European routes that BWIA was flying. Unfortunately the Tristar alone couldn't turn around BWIA's fortunes.

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Sunjet 707s: BWIA in the 1970s

6/5/2016

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Trinidad and Tobago is a wonderful island group which for many years had the most important airline in the Caribbean - British West Indies Airways. BWIA entered the 1970s after a troubled decade in which it had gradually come under 100% government ownership. The 1970s would see a change in management that would lead to the airline's renaissance but profits and national airlines don't often mix in relation to smaller countries and it was to be a false dawn.

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El' Inter Americano vs El'Dorado: Panagra & Braniff 7s

14/2/2016

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By mid-1950 Braniff had acquired permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to compete head to head with Pan Am and the Grace Shipping Company's airline Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) on long-haul services to destinations as far south as Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. This direct competition was far cry from the sedate anti-competitive nature of domestic US services and necessitated the best levels of service and equipment. At the same time it also created serious enmity between the two airlines.

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Hispaniolan Highlight: Dominicana

17/12/2015

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Many Latin American nations have long aviation histories thanks to pioneering immigrants and the not always benign influence of Pan Am. The Dominican Republic is one such country, which grew a modern and well run national airline only to see it collapse in on itself as corruption and competition took their toll. Compania Dominicana de Aviacion was founded as early as May 4, 1944, one of a string of airlines within Latin America that Pan Am helped found and held a stake in (40% in this case).

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From Florida to Indonesia in 30 Years: The History of a 737

14/9/2015

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One of the interesting things about acquiring a new aircraft model is looking back at the airframe and seeing where it came from and went to. Many historic aircraft, especially Douglas and Boeing jets, often have long and varied histories. Nowadays with the seeming shorter lives of aircraft due to both the high price of spares on the after market and the seemingly lighter build of aircraft designs this sort of longevity appears to be a thing of the past. We can still marvel however at the careers of older aircraft and Aeroclassics recent TAESA 737-200 is a good example.

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SAHSA & TAN: Honduran Partners to the End

8/6/2015

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Servicio Aéreo de Honduras SA was the national airline of Honduras for nearly fifty years. It was founded in November 1944 with the assistance of Pan American who had a 38% share in the carrier. Flight operations began on October 22, 1945 using a Douglas DC-2 on domestic flights. Soon afterwards a DC-3 and Beech 18 joined the fleet. Along with its at first competitor and later sister TAN the airline would provide a dash of bright blue throughout Central America.

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El' Pacifico: Panagra's DC-6B Service to South America

19/4/2015

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Pan American Grace Airways (Panagra) was formed in January 1929 as a marriage of convenience between Juan Trippe's Pan American World Airways and W. R. Grace & Company Shipping. The former wanted to own as much of the air traffic in Latin America as possible whilst the latter wasn't keen on Pan Am competing against its interests and shipping down the east-coast of South America.

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Forward>>

Aeronaves De México Pt2: Cuauhtli Goes International

Aeronaves De México Pt1: Cuauhtli Takes Flight

Sunjet Tristars: BWIA in the 1980/90s

Sunjet 707s: BWIA in the 1970s

El' Inter Americano vs El'Dorado: Panagra & Braniff 7s

Hispaniolan Highlight: Dominicana

From Florida to Indonesia in 30 Years: The History of a 737

SAHSA & TAN: Honduran Partners to the End

El' Pacifico: Panagra's DC-6B Service to South America

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