Flightline: 39/TBD

"user314" (user314) 09/02/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, Airlines, Airliners, Colombia, Airbus A320, Airbus

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Avianca A320 in a special ‘100 Anos’ paint job

Avianca Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation at Miami International Airport

In December of 2019, Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A. (“Airways of the American Continent”), AKA !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! S.A. reached 100 years of continuous service, exceeded only by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . In celebration, one of their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was painted in their 1940's/50's livery, aping the appearance of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that saw service with the airline through the Sixties.

Avianca traces its history back to the founding of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ( Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aéreos ), which formed on 5 December 1919 in Barranquilla, which started flying mail and passengers in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s, two of which were fitted with floats to allow landing on Colombia’s rivers. By the middle 1920s, the airline was flying to locations in Venezuela and the US.

SCADTA’s Junkers W.34, nicknamed “Magdalena”, tied up along a Colombian river bank sometime in the 1930's

In June of 1940, SCADTA merged with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (SACO), forming Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia (Avianca). After WWII, Avianca expanded, beginning flights to Quito and Lima in Peru, Panama City, Miami and NYC, and parts of Europe, using Douglas !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s.

An Avianca DC-4 at Santa Fe de Bogota airport in March of 1972

Beginning in 1961, the airline began leasing two 707s, and later that year bought two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s of its own. By 1976 a Boeing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! had been acquired, followed three years later by a - !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which allowed mixed passenger and cargo flights.

Avianca Boeing 747-259B (M) in 1993

In 1994, Avianca acquired regional carrier !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ( SAM) and helicopter operator !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Helicol), adding more destinations and services, as well as modernizing its fleet, which now consisted of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and various models of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! helicopters.

Avianca 767-200ER in 1997

In 2003, Avianca filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was bought by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and was reorganized as Aerovías del Continente Americano (Airways of the American Continent, keeping the Avianca acronym). The airline was consolidated with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which were later rebranded as Avianca Brazil and Avianca Ecuador, respectively. In 2009, Avianca merged with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (TACA), later rebranded as Avianca El Salvador, which created one of the largest airlines in South America, with more than 120 aircraft serving 100+ destinations. After the merger, Avianca retired its remaining Fokker airplanes, replacing them with 10 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! s. Thanks to TACA’s existing agreement with United Airlines, the merged group was made a part of the Star Alliance in 2010, and Avianca canceled its agreement with Delta .

An Avianca A318 in 2011

In May of 2020, already under mounting liabilities ( $7.3B at the end of 2019) , Avianca again filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the Coronapocalypse lockdown of Colombia, with the airline having flown no passengers from late March on, and most of the twenty thousand employees not getting paid during this time. The future now looks rather bleak for the second oldest airline in the world......

ttyymmnn > user314 09/02/2020 at 11:30

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The world needs more retro liveries.

user314 > ttyymmnn 09/02/2020 at 11:46

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Yup. Twin motors ( and turbofans at that)  but they still look straight from the Jet Age.