Avianca

The history of Colombia's Avianca Airlines could be considered as colorful as their red and white airplanes. Avianca was only the second airline ever to operate in the history of aviation, after KLM of the Netherlands, and the first one to fly in the Americas.

Avianca began operations in 1919 with the Junkers F-13. Over the decades Avianca expanded their routes to include all of South America, as well as Central America, the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico and parts of Europe. Avianca's fleet has included such types as the Boeing 727, Boeing 707, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, and Boeing 767. Nowadays, they have retired the 727's and 747's but have added the Fokker 50, MD-87, MD-88's to their fleet.

As Colombia struggled to fight drug trafficking in the 1980s, Avianca also had trying times. The airline suffered a few accidents which were arranged by rival gangs whenever they knew that someone they wanted killed was on board an Avianca flight (See: Avianca Flight 410). It should be noted, however, that in the great majority of these accidents, Avianca was not to blame, as investigations almost always pointed to other causes and not the Avianca planes themselves. Avianca Flight 011, a Boeing 747, crashed shortly before landing at Barajas International Airport in Madrid, Spain on September of 1983.

After the death or arrest of various traffickers at the hands of Colombian police, Avianca has regained its status as one of the safest airlines in the world and is one of Latin America's leading airline companies. It also owns SAM, another Colombian airline that is striving to succeed with the help of Avianca.

In December 2003, Avianca announced that a pilots' strike cost the airline about 3 million US dollars.

As of May 2004, Avianca has an average operation of 290 daily flights to 18 domestic and 17 international destinations, including South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, the United States and Spain .

Avianca is currently in a state of bankruptcy. Continental Airlines has placed a bid to acquire Avianca and combine it with its Panamanian unit, Copa Airlines.

IATA Code

Avianca Airlines uses the IATA designator code AV.