(commonly known by the shorter name '''Mexicana''') is
Mexico 's second-largest
Airline - after
Aeroméxico - and the world's fourth oldest airline still using its original name, after
Holland 's
KLM ,
Colombia 's
Avianca , and
Australia 's
Qantas .
Mexicana was founded on
July 12 1921 , under the name ''Compañía Mexicana de Transportación Aérea'', (CMTA) as a money carrier to oil fields near
Tampico , on the
Gulf Of Mexico . Mexicana's first plane was a Lincoln standard, a two-seat
Biplane .
The
1920s were groundbreaking times for the airline, with
Air Mail service being established and services like
Aerial Photography being undertaken. In
1929 ,
Pan Am took over the majority of the airline's stock, and the airline opened its first international route, with service to the
United States . Mexicana used the historic
Ford Tri-Motor plane for the route flown from
Mexico City to
Brownsville, Texas ,
USA , with stops at
Tuxpan and
Tampico . One of the first Mexicana´s pilot was none other than the legendary
Charles Lindbergh himself.
The
1930s saw route expansion and service improvement. Mexicana opened a route from Brownsville to
Guatemala City , stopping over at
Veracruz ,
Minatitlán ,
Iztepec and
Tapachula . In addition, flights were started to
El Salvador ,
Costa Rica and
Cuba , and the association with Pan Am gave them access to
Nicaragua and
Panama too, through Pan Am's
Miami base. (Pan Am had undertaken flights from Mexico City to Miami.) Mexicana also became then the first foreign airline ever to fly to
Los Angeles .
The fleet also saw growth during that decade, eight
Fairchild FC2 s and 3
Fokker F10 s being added.
The
1940s were more of a domestic growth period, although a service was established from Mexico City to
Havana . Routes were opened for the first time to
Monterrey ,
Nuevo Laredo , and
Mérida , as well as a night flight to
Los Angeles . The Mérida flights were also flown at night. Mexicana initially used
DC-2 s for these flights but, as time went by,
DC-3 s were acquired and, later,
DC-4 s. The DC-3s became known as ''El Palacio Aéreo''. (The Air Palace). The DC-4 allowed Mexicana to fly non-stop from Mexico City to Los Angeles for the first time. Mexicana was also able to create a certified pilots school in Mexico City.
The
1950s saw the airline's growth slow a little, but
DC-6 s were welcomed to the fleet, and a flight attendant school was opened. The DC-6s were put to work on the Mexico City to
Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City to
Oaxaca routes. Service to San Antonio, Texas was initiated later in the decade.
In the
1960s , four
De Havilland Comet s were bought and flown over from
London and Mexicana entered the jet age on
July 4 ,
1960 . Since Mexicana was still part of Pan American, these Comets were intended to replace
Boeing 707 s should this type not fulfill the expectations of Pan American's owner,
Juan Trippe . Competition grew stiff, however, and by the late 1960s Mexicana was almost forced into
Bankruptcy . In
1967 however, Mexicana received its first
Boeing 727 , and along with a new administration and strategic plans, the airline was able to recover from its economic problems soon after.
In
1968 , the stock owned by Pan Am was entirely bought over and Mexicana became once again a 100-percent Mexican company.
1969 was a tragic year for Mexicana, for it lost two 727s in air crashes.
In
1971 , Mexicana started flights to
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in
San Juan, Puerto Rico , a route it would maintain for more than 25 years without interruption, and to
Denver, Colorado . The jet fleet kept expanding and eventually they had 19 jets, the largest jet fleet in
Latin America at the time. They also started a
Flight Simulator service with a 727 simulator at their hub in
Benito Juárez International Airport . The Denver route stopped over at
Mazatlán . By this time Mexicana had the largest fleet of 727s outside the USA.
The , 3
DC-10-15 s were received and began making their way through the airline's
Caribbean routes. In
1982 , the Mexican government acquired 54 percent of the airline. In
1984 , a huge building with Mexicana's central offices resembling a control tower 30 stories high and a heliport was unveiled south of Mexico City. In March
1986 , tragedy struck, as a Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to
Puerto Vallarta suddenly caught fire and crashed onto the mountains of western Mexico, killing every passenger and crew member on the flight. This is the most recent accident involving a Mexicana aircraft.
For Mexicana, the
1990s kept bringing changes. In
1991 Airbus A320 s joined the airline's fleet, as well as
Fokker F100 s in
1992 . In
1993 AeroMéxico took over. Cintra was later formed in 1997 when the
Boeing 757 s came into service.
Mexicana launched a website (www.mexicana.com), and formed an alliance with
United Airlines . It also had the honor of transporting
Pope John Paul II when he flew from Mexico City to
St. Louis, Missouri . Additionally, Mexicana formed alliances with
Air Canada ,
Varig and
Air New Zealand . In
2000 Mexicana joined the
Star Alliance , which the previous partners had already been members of. Mexicana had to leave this alliance in
2004 , because it cancelled code-sharing agreements with fellow member
United Airlines . However, Mexicana still works together with other Star Alliance members. It also began a program to assist families of people involved in air disasters.
Mexicana would later obtain a certificate to perform maintenance jobs on the new
Europe an planes on their fleet.
On
April 28 ,
2003 , a Mexicana de Aviación Airbus jet was forced to land at
San Francisco International Airport after the pilot accidentally set off the airplane's anti-terrorism alarm.
2004 was an important year for Mexicana since it marked the return of wide body jets to its fleet. The airline acquired one Boeing 767-300ER from
SAS . The airplane (XA-MXB "Buenos Aires") flies non-stop to
Buenos Aires .
