Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación, more commonly known as simply Ecuatoriana, was the national airline of Ecuador.
Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación
thumb|left|An Ecuatoriana [[Boeing 707#707-320B|Boeing 707-320B taking off from Miami International Airport (1989)]]
American investors pulled out of the company during the early 1970s, prompting the creation of a new company. Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación, a state-owned company, took over the routes, liabilities, and assets of CEA. It was established in July 1974, becoming the flag carrier of Ecuador. At the end of 1994, SAETA made a $31 million bid in an attempt to acquire Ecuatoriana, but this didn't go through.
thumb|An Ecuatoriana [[Boeing 727-200 Advanced at Mexico City International Airport. The livery resembles the one used on VASP aircraft. (2000)]]
After a lengthy privatization process, with the participation of nine consortiums that included ACES, Air France, British Aerospace, Carnival Airlines, Challenge Air Cargo, Continental Airlines, Aerogal and TACA, the consortium led by Brazilian airline VASP (and local investor Juan Eljuri) won the bid through the Guayaquil and Quito stock exchanges, buying 50.1 percent in August 1995 (at $1500 per stock), with a five-year business plan and an effective injection of $10 million during the stock bidding. The government retained the remaining 49.9% and announced it would keep 25% of the remaining stocks (administered by TAME), with 24.9% to be sold within six months. The process was not exempt from political controversy, as the Comptroller, the Supreme Court and the Congress all questioned the process.
With privatization complete, Ecuatoriana received some Boeing 727s, which were repainted in Miami and at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Arizona. By 1996, short domestic and international services were restarted, with a livery that resembled VASP's. A single DC-10, also borrowed from VASP, allowed the airline to reintroduce services to Madrid's Barajas International Airport.
saw the airline flying to Buenos Aires, Cancún, Guayaquil, Manaus, Mexico City, Panama City and Santiago using Airbus A310-300, Boeing 727-200 Advanced and McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30. Despite claims that Lan Chile was not interested in Ecuatoriana, the Chilean carrier was operating its own aircraft on behalf of Ecuatoriana on the lucrative routes to the US after Ecuatoriana's aircraft were repossessed by lessors in late 2000. Following the rejection of Aero Continente's bid and the suspension of Ecuatoriana's air operator certificate, Ecuador's civil aviation authority cleared Lan Chile to start up a subsidiary named Lan Ecuador to fly many international routes previously operated by Ecuatoriana.
Lan Chile owned 50 percent of the airline, wet-leasing two Boeing 767s to the company, but in 2004 sold its part to Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano. By early 2005 LAN had taken over Ecuatoriana's routes and fleet.
Destinations
thumb|A Boeing 707-320B on short final to Miami International Airport in 1992
Ecuatoriana served the following destinations throughout its history:
{|class="wikitable"
!rowspan="2"|City
!colspan="2"|Airport code
!rowspan="2"|Airport name
!rowspan="2"|Refs
|-
!IATA
!ICAO
|-bgcolor=#F0F8FF
|colspan="6"|
|-
|Buenos Aires||align=center|EZE||align=center|SAEZ||Ministro Pistarini International Airport||align=center|
|-bgcolor=#F0F8FF
|colspan="6"|
|-
|Manaus||align=center|MAO||align=center|SBEG||Eduardo Gomes International Airport||align=center|
|-bgcolor=#F0F8FF
|colspan="6"|
|-
|Guayaquil||align=center|GYE||align=center|SEGU||José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport||align=center|
|-
|Miami||align=center|MIA||align=center|KMIA||Miami International Airport||align=center|
|}
Historical fleet
thumb|An Ecuatoriana McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 on short final to Miami International Airport in 1993
The airline operated the following equipment at various times during its history:
- Airbus A310-300
- Douglas DC-6
References
Bibliography
- Sherlock, Jay L., Lockheed L-188 Electra and Orion, Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1977,
- Schleit, P., Shelton's barefoot airlines, Fishergate Publishing Co. Inc., Annapolis (Maryland), 1982
- Davies, R.E.G., Rebels and reformers of the airways, Airlife Publishing Ltd. & Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987