SARO (airline)

Servicios Aéreos Rutas Oriente, S.A. de C.V. (commonly known as SARO) was an airline based in Monterrey, Mexico.[4] The airline was established in 1991 and had its first flight on March 18 of that year. Due to their low prices, SARO was one of the first low-cost airlines in Mexico and America. It operated scheduled and charter flights throughout the Mexican Republic. SARO ceased all operations in 1995.

Servicios Aereos Rutas Oriente
A SARO B737 at Miami International Airport in 1992
IATA ICAO Callsign
UF SRO AEREOS ORIENTE[1]
Commenced operations1991 (1991)[2]
Ceased operations15 January 1995[3]
Destinations18
HeadquartersMonterrey, Mexico
A Servicios Aéreos Rutas de Oriente Boeing 737-130 (XA-RSW)

Airline motto

The airline's motto, "Una Aerolínea con todo... para todos!" ("An airline with everything... for everybody!"), depicted the "low-fare" character of the airline, not common in Mexico at that time.

Difficulties and struggles

SARO was a good attempt at starting up a true low-cost domestic airline many years before the present ones. It was riddled with adverse conditions, unfair competition from the "official" airlines (Mexicana and Aeromexico were both part of CINTRA, a government operation) and also from TAESA, owned by then-Secretary of Tourism, Carlos Hank González.[5] It originated from private investors led by Samuel Rodriguez from Monterrey, Mexico who owned a bus company.[6] However, the large cost of trying to operate a scheduled airline against all kinds of difficulties, some placed by the established operators at the government-owned CINTRA, some by the official fuel supplier and the governmental airport operators conglomerate (ASA), were impossible to overcome.

At the same time, many corners were cut. Crews frequently included a captain with variable experience, together with an inexperienced co-pilot (in those years the concept of pilot-flying and pilot-assisting were not really applied). The captain was the only one truly at command, and the co-pilot was merely in his seat by requirement; almost all take-offs and landings were made by the captains. The training was limited and performed in an old-fashioned way by an experienced Chief of Pilots imparting practice on captains and first officers as well. Equipment was old and often had been heavily used and abused by the previous, numerous owners. Maintenance was done in other countries because of lack of infrastructure in Mexico. It was a usual practice to carry one or two mechanics on board on most flights for routine maintenance (and frequent minor repairs), and some of those mechanics were from Mexicana and were working in their "spare time", due to their familiarity with old Boeing equipment.

Many times, the flights became more and more delayed for various reasons: lack of equipment due to maintenance or diverse failures, or lack of fuel due to the small airline becoming indebted with the official supplier (NACOA). In practice, the airline was almost boycotted by the airports, which assigned SARO planes the worst possible available positions to embark and disembark, which caused passenger discomfort and dissatisfaction. The only thing that kept users flying with SARO was the low prices, frequently less than a third than that of the two big national airlines.

After a struggling short career, SARO became inoperable, with many debts, failing equipment, and some incidents that could very well have been accidents. The usual delays were almost a rule, and the crews were forced to make extra unannounced stops at intermediate points directed by their management, in order to pick up more passengers when flights started to take off almost empty. By 1993, SARO was banned from flying to the US due to several safety violations.[7] The unforeseen 1994 Mexican peso crisis constituted a further major blow to SARO's unprofitability.

Incident

In 1994, at Poza Rica, Veracruz, a SARO B737 overshot (touched down more than half the length of the already short runway) and overran the end of the single Runway 13, stopping close to the seashore. The extreme braking blocked the brakes, skidding the tires, blowing all four main tires, which almost caught fire and damaged the wheels. The terrified passengers disembarked safely with some help from airport and Pemex personnel. No one was hurt, but the plane was carrying a group of children returning to Ciudad del Carmen. Many families became infuriated with the airline, ending the last remaining confidence of the public. To add insult to injury, the inexperienced mechanics at the airport damaged the wing fuel tanks when trying to raise the 737 on jacks in an attempt to repair the landing gear as soon as possible, to be able to move the plane. That damage delayed the maneuver, which resulted in the crippled plane giving a bad image for several days to other companies' arriving flights.

Destinations

Fleet

All the aircraft ever operated by SARO:

SARO fleet[9]
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Jet aircraft
BAC 1-11 1 1991 1993 Only BAC 1-11 operator in Mexico[10]
Boeing 727-200 5 1992 1994 Former Mexicana aircraft
Boeing 737-100 3 1991 1995 All scrapped
Boeing 737-200 3 1992 1995 Some transferred to AirTran Airways[11]
Douglas DC-9-31 3 1993 1994 All scrapped

Services

The airline offered complimentary soft drinks, juices, beers and snacks on most of its flights.

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References
  1. http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/SARO-Servicios-Aereos-Rutas-Oriente
  2. https://expansion.mx/expansion/2011/09/14/en-el-hoyo-negro
  3. https://www.yesterdaysairlines.com/1988-2005-competition-arrives.html
  4. https://books.google.com/books?id=O2yvqKK5e94C&pg=SA3-PA43&lpg=SA3-PA43&dq=servicios+aereos+rutas+oriente+sa+de+cv&source=bl&ots=S5VmOxa3Vb&sig=ACfU3U2YWnCDWyAhghvHa__M8cg_488XjQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjr98zv56TpAhUMKK0KHbslAzwQ6AEwAXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=servicios%20aereos%20rutas%20oriente%20sa%20de%20cv&f=false
  5. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/submissions/US_99-01_TAESA_submission.pdf
  6. https://www.jornada.com.mx/1999/12/03/padierna.html
  7. http://www.dailyairlinefilings.com/1993orders/930634.pdf
  8. http://www.planepictures.net/netsearch4.cgi?srch=SARO&stype=airline
  9. https://www.planelogger.com/Airline/Fleet/SARO/129685#RegistrationList
  10. http://www.bac1-11jet.co.uk/bac1-11jet.co.uk%20Mexico%20and%20the%20caribbean.htm
  11. https://www.planespotters.net/airline/SARO-Servicios-Aereos-Rutas-Oriente
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