LIA (Linea Internacional Aerea)

  1957 to 1963

  Ecuador

TYPE: Airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: -- / ---

HEADQUARTERS: Unknown

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

LIA (Linea Internacional Aerea) was formed in 1957 by Captain Everett E. Jones, who owned 20% of the shares. Jones had already founded all-cargo operation RANSA in Venezuela. LIA was designated as an Ecuadorian flag carrier and could also operate international services from Ecuador. It initially operated from September 1958 between Guayaquil and Galapagos using Commandos. Later, it purchased an ex-Pan Am Boeing 377s and used it on the country's main route, between Quito and Guayaquil. On 24 August 1960, the US CAB granted LIA a 3-year permit to operate flights between Ecuador and Miami, FL via Panama, San Andres and Havana or via Bogota and Kingston. However, the authorization to perform scheduled flights to Miami was denied. Captain Everett Jones started having legal problems in Venezuela around that time, as vice-president of RANSA, and operations of LIA in Ecuador stopped abruptly in 1963, with the Stratocruiser abandoned at Guayaquil's Simon Bolivar AB.

October 1958* to 1968*

• Curtiss R5C-1 Commando: HC-ACZ
• Other Commando: HC-ACP