Avianca El Salvador

"TACA Airlines" redirects here. Not to be confused with Cabo Verde Airlines.

Avianca El Salvador
IATA ICAO Call sign
TA TAI TACA
Founded1931; 93 years ago (1931) (as TACA)
AOC #COA-002-TA
HubsSan Salvador
Focus citiesSan José (CR)
Frequent-flyer programLifeMiles
AllianceStar Alliance (affiliate)[1]
Fleet size6
Destinations26
Parent companyAvianca Group[2]
HeadquartersAntiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador
Key people
  • Frederico Pedreira (CEO of Avianca Group)
  • David Alemán (Director)
FounderLowell Yerex
Employees2,000 (2022)[3]
Websitewww.avianca.com

Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano, S.A. (Spanish for "Air Transports of the American Continent"),[4] known and formerly branded as TACA International Airlines),[5] and operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings and based in San Salvador, El Salvador. It is one of the seven national branded airlines in the Avianca Group of Latin American airlines, and it serves as the flag carrier of El Salvador.

Founded in 1931, the airline owned and operated five other airlines in Central America. Its name was originally an acronym meaning Central American Air Transports (Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos) but was later changed to Air Transport of the American Continent (Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano) to reflect its expansion to North, Central, and South America.

On 7 October 2009, the airline announced that it would merge with the Colombian airline Avianca,[6] however, it maintained the TACA name until the merger was officially completed on 21 May 2013. TACA is the second-oldest continuously operating airline brand in Central America and the Caribbean, after Cubana de Aviación.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "Lufthansa Wants Quick LATAM Alliance Decision | AVIATION WEEK". www.aviationweek.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Avianca El Salvador". Centre for Aviation. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  3. ^ Lozano, Luis (2 November 2022). "Avianca Pinta Uno de Sus Aviones A320 con la Imagen de la Desaparecida Aerolínea TACA" [Avianca Paints One of Its A320 Aircraft with the Image of the Disappeared TACA Airline]. La Prensa Gráfica (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  4. ^ Schatan, Claudia; Rivera Urrutia, Eugenio, eds. (11 July 2008). Competition Policies in Emerging Economies: Lessons and Challenges from Central America and Mexico. Ottawa, Canada: Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 41–42. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-78433-5. ISBN 9780387784335. OCLC 272298841. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  5. ^ North, Liisa L.; Clark, Timothy D., eds. (18 August 2017). Dominant Elites in Latin America: From Neo-Liberalism to the 'Pink Tide'. Springer Publishing. p. 173. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53255-4. ISBN 9783319532554. LCCN 2017936486. OCLC 1001792913. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Avianca confirms 'strategic merger' with TACA - 10/7/2009". Flight Global. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2015.