Aerocosta

  July 1965 to 1976

  Colombia

TYPE: Cargo airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Barranquilla, Colombia

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

Aerovías de la Costa SA - or Aerocosta - was a cargo airline founded in Barranquilla, Colombia on 12 July 1965. Aerocosta's founders were Captain Rafael Angel Visbal Rosales, Captain Luis Carlos Donado Velilla, Enrique Oswaldo Fajardo, Antonio and Alfonso Ballestas, Herman Olarte and Joaquin del Gordo. Aerocosta began operating in June 1967, serving domestic destinations with a single Commando, along with charter flights to Miami and later scheduled services via San Andres.

By 1969, three additional Commandos had been received. The company further expanded its fleet by acquiring Douglas DC6 aircraft. In July 1970, the company acquired the three aircraft from Aerocondor, which were converted to freighters at Barranquilla. Services were expanded and by then, scheduled services were offered from Barranquilla to Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin, San Andres, Miami, Panama, Martinique, Guadalupe and other parts of the Caribbean. An additional Commando was received in September of that year.

Commando HK-1281 made an emergency landing at the Barranquilla airport on 4 April 1970, and was declared a total loss. A few months later, Commando HK-792 suffered an accident at Pointe-a-Pitre airport in Guadeloupe. The crew reported problems with one of the engines and the plane crashed while attempting an emergency landing. Moments later a fire started and completely consumed the aircraft.

Lockheed Electra aircraft were occasionally chartered in order to offer more capacity on flights to Miami and eventually an Electra was purchased. The company achieved a 15.97% share of export cargo in 1971 by transporting more than 1,492,868 kilos. In that same year, it achieved 28.13% by transporting 4,525,891 kilos of imported cargo, placing it in second place on the market. Being a purely cargo company, it managed to become the most important in the sector and competed strongly with Avianca. Aerocosta prided itself on being “Colombia's Largest Cargo Airline.”

By 1972 an additional Douglas DC6 was purchased, followed a year later by another one. By then, the Donado Velilla brothers decided to become independent and create their own company. They decided to negotiate with the rest of the shareholders the acquisition of the company's two remaining Commandos. With those, they began operating under Aerocosta, until their company LAC (Lineas Aereas del Caribe) had obtained its operating approvals. With the departure of the Donados from the company, Roberto Camacho was appointed as the new president of Aerocosta.

A new accident occurred on 26 October 1973 when Commando HK-1383 fell into the sea while on a flight between Barranquilla and the island of San Andres, under the command of Captain Fernando Leon and “Guajiro” Duran. The plane's crew had reported an emergency when the number one engine went in overspeed, and they had requested the authorization to make an emergency landing in Cartagena. However, a ditching had to be performed 20 miles at sea. Before carrying out this maneuver it was necessary to jettison the cargo, which consisted of chickens in crates and furniture. However, it was not possible to lighten the aircraft on this occasion. A large crate served as a lifeboat for the three crew members who were unhurt, while the plane sank. The cause of the accident was diagnosed as a fire in one of the engines and the impossibility of turning it off, which led to critical flight conditions. Among other factors, the airplane was overweight by more than 1,200 kilos, unbeknownst to the Commander.

Floramerica became the majority partner of the company and was given a new corporate image with a change in logo. Rafael McCausland Osio was appointed as the new president of Aerocosta.

On 10 July 1975, the airline suffered yet another loss when an Aerocondor Electra freighter plane took off from Bogota Eldorado, declared an emergency and crashed into an Aerocosta DC6 parked in front of a hangar, where a large cargo door was being installed on it. The DC6, which was owned by Captain Visbal and leased back to the company, was consumed by flames following the accident. In October 1975, a Lockheed Electra freighter aircraft was purchased to compete on equal grounds with Aerocondor.

However, the loss of the DC-6, along with a series of financial problems forced the company to permanently suspend operations in 1976. Competition on the route to Miami from Avianca and Aerocondor made the operation unprofitable. As a result of the disappearance of Aerocosta, two companies were formed that came to fill the gap in the export market: LIDCA of Barranquilla and TAMPA (Transportes Aereos Panamericanos) of Medellin.

June 1967 to October 1970*

• Curtiss C-46A-10-CU Commando: HK-792
• Other Commando: HK-752, HK-754, HK-756, HK-1281, HK-1282, HK-1291, HK-1383