Avianca Costa Rica

Avianca Costa Rica
LACSA

IATA ICAO Callsign LR LRC LACSA
Founded	1945
Hubs	Juan Santamaría International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	LifeMiles
Alliance	Star Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size	44
Destinations	35
Parent company	Avianca
Headquarters	San José, Costa Rica
Key people	Roberto Kriete (CEO) Fabio Villegas Ramírez (Chairman & CEO of Holding Company)
Website	www.avianca.com

Avianca Costa Rica, formerly known as LACSA (Spanish: Lineas Aéreas Costarricenses S.A.), minority owned by the Synergy Group, is the national airline of Costa Rica and is based in San José. It operates international scheduled services to over 35 destinations in Central, North and South America.^[1][2][3] The airline previously used the TACA/LACSA moniker when it was a subsidiary of Grupo TACA. Since May 2013, following Avianca's purchase of Grupo TACA, Avianca Costa Rica became one of seven nationally branded airlines (Avianca Ecuador, Avianca Honduras, etc.) operated by Avianca Holdings group of Latin American airlines.

History

LACSA Douglas DC-6B freighter at Miami International Airport in 1971

LACSA was established on 17 October 1945 by Pan American World Airways, the Costa Rican government and Costa Rican private interests. It started operations on 1 June 1946 and was designated the national carrier in 1949. Its domestic network was transferred to its wholly owned subsidiary Sansa in September 1959.

LACSA BAC One-Eleven at Miami in 1971

LACSA operated the Douglas DC-6B four-engined piston airliner from 1960 until 1976 on their regular passenger, and eventually freight, scheduled flights to Miami International Airport. The airline introduced the first of their British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin-engined jet airliners onto their Caribbean passenger route network in April 1967.^[4]

The airline also operated a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, Cayman Brac Airways (CBA) Ltd.,^[5] which it sold a 51% controlling interest in the late 1960s to the Cayman Islands government which in turn used the air carrier to form Cayman Airways. LACSA served Grand Cayman for many years as an intermediate stop on its services between San Jose, Costa Rica and Miami.^[6]

Beginning 1998, TACA/LACSA was one of the member airlines comprising the TACA Airlines alliance along with Aviateca of Guatemala, Nica of Nicaragua, Sahsa of Honduras, and five other regional airlines.^[7][8] In 2008 a new TACA logo was introduced,^[9] followed by a new fleet of Embraer 190 airplanes registered in Costa Rica and operated under the LACSA code. In 2009, Aerovías del Continente Americano S.A. (Avianca) and TACA announced their merger plans to be completed in 2010. By 2013, the airlines began operating as a single commercial brand using the Avianca name. ^[10]

Destinations

A TACA/LACSA Airbus A320-233 at Juan Santamaría International Airport, Costa Rica. (2005)

Postal stamp issued to commemorate LACSA's 20th anniversary (1946–66).

LACSA international destinations in 1973

According to the May 31, 1973 LACSA system timetable, the airline was serving the following international destinations:^[11]

• Barranquilla, Colombia
• Caracas, Venezuela
• Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
• Maracaibo, Venezuela
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Miami, Florida
• Panama City, Panama
• San Andres Island, Colombia
• San Jose, Costa Rica - Hub and airline headquarters
• San Salvador, El Salvador

This same timetable states that all international flights were being operated with British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jets at this time with the exception of the San Jose-San Andres Island route which was being flown with a Convair 440 propliner.

Fleet

LACSA services were previously flown exclusively by Airbus A320 family jetliners drawn from the pooled fleet of the former Grupo TACA. In 2008, a new fleet of Embraer 190 jets was introduced.^[12]

Current

LACSA passenger retired

• Beechcraft 18 (C-45 model)
• Boeing 727-100
• Boeing 727-200
• Boeing 737-200
• British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven (includes standard version as well as the stretched series 500 model)
• Convair 340
• Convair 440
• Curtiss C-46
• Douglas DC-3
• Douglas DC-6B

LACSA cargo retired

• Lockheed L-188 Electra
• Douglas DC-8

Incidents

On May 23, 1988, a leased Boeing 727-100, registered TI-LRC and operating the route San Jose-Managua-Miami, collided with a fence at the end of the runway in the Juan Santamaría International Airport, crashed at a nearby field next to a highway, and caught fire. The excess of weight in the front part of the airplane was the cause of the accident. There were no fatalities out of the 23 occupants.

On 11 January 1998, LACSA flight 691,^[13] an Airbus A320, veered off a runway at San Francisco International Airport during the takeoff roll. The aircraft left the runway at full speed, coming to rest in a field of mud. The runway was closed after the incident, reducing take-off capacity by 50 percent, leading to massive delays at the airport. None of the 122 passengers on board the aircraft sustained injuries, and stayed at a hotel until another aircraft could transport them to their destination, San José, Costa Rica. The cause of the incident was not determined.^[14]

References

• Roach, J (2004). Jet Airliner Production List - Volume 2. The Aviation Hobby Shop. 
• Hardy, M. J. (October 1969). "Aviation in Costa Rica". Air Pictorial. Vol. 31 no. 10. pp. 362–365. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LACSA.

• TACA Official Site
• From LACSA to TACA to Avianca, 28 May 2013

Airlines of Costa Rica
Current	Aeropostal Alas de Centroamerica Avianca Costa Rica Nature Air Sansa Airlines Ticos Air VivaCan Volaris Costa Rica
Defunct	Aero Costa Rica Costa Rica Skies Paradise Air