The return of Ecuatoriana

In Ecuador people are working hard on the relaunch of Ecuatoriana Airlines. In an interview with El Universo, the start-up's CEO has said that the airline is currently in the process of obtaining its AOC and aims for a launch in July.

Ecuatoriana Airlines applied for permission to operate 29 (domestic) routes from seven cities in Ecuador; Cuenca, Esmeralda, Guayaquil, Loja, Manta, Quito and Santa Rosa. It plans, in the first year, to have a fleet of six DHC-8s, comprised of -200s and -400s.

According to the CEO, starting-up a new airline in Ecuador now is the right time with competitors Avianca and LATAM running very limited domestic operations in Ecuador and the use of the DHC-8s will ensure lower fares.

The original Ecuatoriana Airlines was founded in May 1957 and started flying in August of the same year. In 1974 the airline became state-owned and introduced the coloful rainbow-livery. During the early 1990s South American financial crisis, Ecuatoriana faced big financial difficulties, prompting the government to sell-off the airline to a private investor. After a long bidding process, VASP ended up taking-over Ecuatoriana for 50,1% in August 1995 and introduced a VASP-look-a-like livery, replacing the colorful rainbow one.

In 2000, however, VASP ended up in financial difficulties themselves and tried to sell-off the shares in VASP. AeroContinente and LAN Chile were interested, but a sale never happened. In late 2000 the airline's aircraft were reposessed by their lessors and the airline's AOC was suspended by the civil aviation authorities of Ecuador. The final blow to the airline was when the government decided to give LAN the go-ahead to establish a subsidiary LAN Ecuador and take-over most of the routes flown by Ecuatoriana.

Photo by Danny Grew, kindly provided by AirHistory.net