Avianca Costa Rica

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.

Avianca Costa Rica
IATA ICAO Callsign
LR LRC LACSA
Founded1945
HubsJuan Santamaría International Airport
Frequent-flyer programLifeMiles
AllianceStar Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size4
(plus other fleet pooled throughout the Avianca group)
Destinations35
Parent companyAvianca
HeadquartersSan José, Costa Rica
Key peopleRoberto Kriete (CEO)
Fabio Villegas Ramírez (Chairman & CEO of Holding Company)
Websiteavianca.com

History
Postal stamp issued to commemorate LACSA’s 20th anniversary (1946–66).
LACSA Douglas DC-6B freighter at Miami International Airport in 1971
LACSA BAC One-Eleven at Miami in 1971
A TACA/LACSA Airbus A320-233 at Juan Santamaría International Airport, Costa Rica. (2005)

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 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 José, 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, Isleña of Honduras, and five other regional airlines.[7][8] In 2008, a new fleet of Embraer 190 jets was introduced.[9] Also in 2008 a new TACA logo was introduced,[10] 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. [11]

Destinations
Main article: List of Avianca Costa Rica destinations

LACSA international destinations in 1973

According to the May 31, 1973 LACSA system timetable, the airline was serving the following international destinations:[12]

  • Barranquilla, Colombia
  • Caracas, Venezuela
  • Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
  • Maracaibo, Venezuela
  • Mexico City, Mexico
  • Miami, Florida
  • Panama City, Panama
  • San Andres Island, Colombia
  • San José, 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 José-San Andres Island route which was being flown with a Convair 440 propliner.

International routes in 1984

The airline was operating to such international destinations in 1984 as:

  • Barranquilla, Colombia
  • Cancun, Mexico
  • Caracas, Venezuela
  • Guatemala City, Guatemala
  • Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • Los Angeles, USA
  • Maracaibo, Venezuela
  • Mexico City, Mexico
  • Miami, USA
  • New Orleans, USA
  • Panama City, Panama
  • Quito, Ecuador
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • San Salvador, El Salvador

These cities were flown to using Lacsa's Boeing 727 aircraft.[13]

Fleet

Current Fleet
Avianca Costa Rica Airbus A320-200

As of July 2020 the Avianca Costa Rica fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[14]

Avianca Costa Rica Fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
Airbus A319-100 3 —
Airbus A320-200 6 —
Airbus A320neo 1 —
Airbus A321-200 2 —
Total 12 —

Former fleet

Incidents
  • On May 23, 1988, a leased Boeing 727-100, registered TI-LRC and operating the route San José-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,[16] 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.[17]
gollark: Computers can't program themselves usefully yet. If we did, that would be "the singularity", and very, er, *interesting*.
gollark: Automate *rewriting* it via Rust?
gollark: ++delete <@734140198236979302>
gollark: That would be annoying and take lots of time.
gollark: But seriously please actually fix my code HELP

References

Citations
  1. "Our History". Grupo TACA. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  2. "LACSA Lineas Aéreas Costarricenses – Details and Fleet History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  3. "LACSA". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  4. Eastwood & Roach, 2004, p. 170
  5. http://www.timetableimages.com, May 1, 1965 Cayman Brac Airways system timetable
  6. http://www.timetableimages.com, Dec. 1, 1970 LACSA system timetable
  7. "Avianca Holdings S.A., Welcome to Avianca Holdings S.A." www.aviancaholdings.com.
  8. Rohter, Larry (1998-04-15). "A Home-Grown Giant Of Central America". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  9. "EMBRAER 190 JET TO EXPAND TRIP LINHAS AÉREAS FLEET". revistaaerea.com. 19 July 2010.
  10. "Taca lanza nueva imagen y servicios". La Nación (in Spanish). San José. 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  11. "TACA renueva flota para vuelos al Istmo". La Nación (in Spanish). San José. 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  12. http://www.timetableimages.com, May 31 1973 LACSA system timetable
  13. http://www.timetableimages.com/i-kl/lr8410a.jpg
  14. "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2019): 12.
  15. "Global Airline Guide 2018 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2018): 12.
  16. "Airliner speeds off runway at S.F. Airport". The San Francisco Chronicle. 1998-01-11.
  17. "Airplane gets stuck in mud after veering off San Francisco runway at full speed". CJOnline.com. January 11, 1998. Archived from the original on 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2009-05-17.

Bibliography
  • 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.

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