Aerocondor

  February 1955 to May 1980

  Colombia

TYPE: Airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: OD / ---

HEADQUARTERS: Barranquilla

OTHER NAMES: Linea de Aviacion Condor (1955-1957), Aerocondor (1957-1980)

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

Aerocondor was founded on 3 February 1955 in Barranquilla by a group of six Colombian airline captains headed by Captain Gustavo Lopez Diaz. Each one assumed a management area in the company: sales & public relations, operations and maintenance.

The first aircraft, Commando HK-400, was purchased in Miami, FL and arrived in Barranquilla in April 1955. It was used for non-scheduled flights between Cartagena and Cravo Norte, on a contract with the Colombian Petroleum Company to transport pipes used to drill oil wells. No less than sixty flights were made. Following this contract, a second Commando was purchased with a loan by Banco Popular. As the Colombian Petroleum Company decided to purchase its own airplanes, from October 1956 Aerocondor started cargo flights between Barranquilla and Bogota with stops in Barrancabermeja and Puerto Calderon. The Commando offered a cargo capacity of 5 tons on that route.

On occasions, passengers who failed to embark on other airlines were taken along, sitting on the crates in the hold. As these passengers became increasingly frequent, the civil aviation authority ended up clearing Aerocondor for the mixed transport of passengers and cargo. Ten seats were fitted to each Commando. Passengers, mostly low-income students, preferred to use this service rather than paying an expensive fare on another airline. At that time, the Barranquilla-Bogota ticket cost 93 pesos, while Aerocondor charged only 39.

In January 1960, full passenger flights were finally launched, using a Commando fitted with 48 seats between Barranquilla and Bogota. As Aerocondor did not have the ticket sales infrastructure, an agreement was reached with Viajes Alas, Abavia and Viaturla, travel agencies which sold the tickets for them. Competitors on that passenger route were Avianca, Aerovias Colombianas, Lloyd Aereo Colombiano and Taxader. After the opening of a runway on the island of San Andres, non-scheduled flights began from Barranquilla and Cartagena. In the first year of passenger operations, 51,200 passengers and 4,360,735 tons were carried in a total of 8,250 flight hours. The company expanded its network to serve Medellin, Cali and San Andres, filling the void left by Lloyd Aereo Colombiano after it suspended operations. Aerocondor maintained a policy of discounted fares, and branded itself as “the Coast Line”. The volume of passengers transported increased markedly as a result of a successful policy, and by 1961 passenger figures reached 70,500.

In 1963, newspaper flights began using Commando freighters. They were leaving Bogota at 1 AM and stopped in Cartagena and Barranquilla. Aerocondor won a contract with El Espectador, while Avianca operated for competing El Tiempo. In June, the Barranquilla-Miami car route was inaugurated. This was the longest route operated by the Commando at that time, with a duration of 5h45 at an average cruising altitude of 8,000 feet.

Later in 1963, two Douglas DC-4s were added to the fleet, offering greater capacity. A maintenance base was built in Barranquilla, and a technical cooperation agreement was signed with KLM Royal Dutch Airline, which had its Caribbean base in nearby Curacao. Several Douglas DC-3s and DC-6s were added to the fleet, the latter being used by Aerocondor to operate a feeder route between Barranquilla and Curacao for KLM’s European line.

At that point, the Commandos were relegated to secondary passenger routes, while the four-engined Douglas were used on Aerocondor’s main routes. Attempts were made at lobbying the Colombian government to obtain air mail contracts, but these remained assigned to the national airline Avianca.

On 9 November 1964, Commando HK-400 suffered a mishap in Barranquilla. While the aircraft was parked on the ramp, a fire started in an engine, and spread out to the fuselage. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was lost. It was later replaced with another Commando bearing the same registration.

In January 1965, a merger was discussed with competing airline Taxader, which was failing. Aerocondor hoped to unite both networks, and transfer Taxader’s nine aircraft to its fleet. However, the merger was finally ruled out on 15 January by Taxader’s management, which instead liquidated the company.

On 18 December 1966, a Lockheed L1649A Super Starliner chartered by Aerocondo crashed on approach to Bogota Eldorado Airport. Fatalities included Captain Gustavo Lopez, the company CEO, who was traveling as a passenger. He was replaced by Captain Daniel Eduardo Gonzalez, who tried to restructure the company and adopt new commercial and financial policies. American advisors were taken onboard, and they secured a contract with American Airlines to introduce Lockheed L-188 Electras in the Aerocondor fleet. These started operating cargo contracts: flowers to Miami, and meat to Martinique, French Caribbeans.

By 1967 Aerocondor had 12 airplanes: three DC-6, two DC-4, a DC-3, four Commandos and two Cessnas T-50. Its network included main trunk routes between Barranquilla and Santa Marta, Cartagena, San Andres, Barrancabermeja, Medellin, Pereira, Cali and Bogota. Its main competitors were Avianca and SAM. Secondary routes operated from Barranquilla included San Juan del Cesar, Valledupar, Maicao, Tolu, Turbo, Magangue, Mompox and El Banco. On-demand cargo services were carried out to Puerto Asis and Leticia.

On the morning of 2 March 1967, Commando freighter HK-758 made an emergency landing at the San Ramon hacienda minutes after taking off from Bogota Eldorado bound for Barranquilla. The plane had a major failure in one of its engines. Both crewmembers walked away unharmed.

In the late 1960’s, Aerocondor DC-4s and DC-6s were hit by a wave of unlawful interferences by various revolutionary groups, which planted bombs onboard and carried out hijackings on several occasions.

From 1969, in order to renew its aging fleet, Aerocondor signed an agreement with American Airlines to acquire several Lockheed L-188 Electras, through a five-year lease with purchase option. By 1971, all passenger piston-engine aircraft had been replaced by five Lockheed Electras, with the remaining piston-engine aircraft relegated to cargo work. Commando freighters continued to operate domestically and on the Miami route, while the DC-6s were sold off.

On 5 October 1972, a Commando freighter HK-851 operating between Miami and Barranquilla made an emergency landing at Miami International Airport. Engine 1 propeller went into overspeed as the airplane rotated, and could not be feathered. Turning back to short final, the propeller broke loose, cut the fuselage and landed on a car in the Eastern Airlines parking lot. The pilots still managed to land the aircraft uneventfully. HK-851 was repaired, test flown, and taken back to Barranquilla a year later.

In December 1972, Aerocondor entered the jet era by purchasing a Boeing 720B through American Airlines. It was the same type of aircraft operated by Avianca, and a lease agreement similar to that used for the Electras was signed.

In 1977, Aerocondor made a lease-purchase agreement to obtain widebody Airbus A300s. However, by then, the company’s financial situation had deteriorated and it was unable to continue the lease payments. Aerocondor was sold several times to new owners who failed to revive it, and finally went bankrupt in May 1980, ceasing all operations.

March 1955 to 1976*

Aerocondor was started using a Commando freighter. The type was later also used in 10-seat mixed passenger & cargo, and in 48-seat all passenger configurations. It served domestic routes and the Barranquilla to Miami cargo route. With the arrival of Douglas DC-4s and DC-6s in the fleet, Aerocondor Commandos were later relegated again to cargo duties. In total, Aerocondor operated 7 Commandos.

• Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando: HK-852-X / HK-852
• Curtiss C-46A-60-CS Commando: HK-851
• Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando: HK-400 (I), HK-758
• Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando: HK-400 (II)
• Other Commando: HK-851