is the flag airline of
El Salvador , comprised of a group of five combined
Central American airlines. The company is owned by the Kriete family of San Salvador. Originally an acronym of ''Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos'' (Central American Air Transport), it now stands for ''Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano'' (Air Transport of the American Continent), reflecting its expansion to North and South America. It flies to about 50 different countries.
The five airlines are:
Lacsa is the only subsidiary of the group that operates flights with its own flight numbers. Its hub is at
Juan Santamaría International Airport in
San José, Costa Rica .
TACA Peru is now an important member of the group. Grupo Taca is also considering opening airlines in
Panama ,
Argentina and
Chile -- named "Taca Panama", "Taca Argentina" and "Taca Chile" respectively -- to compete with other large Latin American airline groups, including
Copa Airlines ,
Aerolíneas Argentinas and the
LAN Airlines group.
Taca's logo is five golden
Macaw s flying in formation, representing the five original constituent airlines. Each airline flies similar aircraft in similar paint schemes, but retains its own name on the fuselage.
departing from
Toulouse ,
France ]]
arriving at
Mexico City ,
Juarez International Airport , Mexico]]
landing at
Miami International Airport .]]
Taca has scheduled flights to some airports in the Western Hemisphere, but it also has charter flights from
Juan Santamaría International Airport to
Cancún International Airport and to
San Andres ,
Colombia . Its three flight hubs or "Centros de Conexiones" are:
Map of routes - TACA.COM
Taca's headquarters are in
San Salvador ,
El Salvador , moving from
New Orleans in 1982.
FLUG REVUE October 2006: Taca thrives with Airbus fleet The company is owned by the Kriete family of San Salvador.
Taca's regional airlines system includes the following airlines:
Taca was founded in Honduras in 1931 by
New Zealand er
Lowell Yerex . TACA was once the "world's largest cargo carrier."
''Main Article:'' '''
TACA Destinations ,
Lacsa Destinations ,
TACA Peru Destinations
Taca has a total of 50 destinations around the world and continues to grow. The Los Angeles mayor will ask Taca to open a San Salvador-Ontario route. Also, the recent San Jose-Santo Domingo route will be increased from 4 weekly to 7 weekly.
- The hub at Cuscatlan International Airport makes connections between Central America and North America (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, New York, Miami, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, Mexico City) as well as Lima, Perú and all Central America.
- The hub at Juan Santamaría International Airport is in charge of the Caribbean routes (Havana and Santo Domingo) and the northern countries of South America (Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Lima) also 3 USA cities (Los Angeles, New York and Miami) and all Central America.
- The hub at Jorge Chavez International Airport is in charge of all connections to the South American routes and serves El Salvador and Costa Rica.
- The hub starting on 2008 at La Aurora International Airport is in charge of the South America (Lima, Bogota, Quito, Caracas), North America destinations (Washington-Dulles, Chicago, New York-JFK, Los Angeles, Miami], two Mexican Destinations (Cancún, Mexico DF)and serve destinations in almost all Central America (El Salvador, Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Costa Rica, and Panama that is starting in 2008)
This system gives TACA an excellent coverage of all the continent.
As of August 2006 the Taca fleet includes
Flight International , 3-
9 October 2006 :
The A321s are used in the higher
Density routes: San Salvador-Mexico City, San Salvador-Los Angeles, San Salvador-Miami, San Salvador-Washington, San Salvador-Guatemala, San Jose-San Salvador, San Jose-Panama, San Jose-Bogotá, Lima-Caracas, Lima-Buenos Aires.
The average fleet age is 4.7 years old in June 2006.
TACA Fleet Age
Taca has operated some of the following types:
Distancia is Taca's
Frequent Flyer Program . It also has a corporate incentive program called Avancia that can be converted 1-to-1 to "Distancia" miles.
In addition to earning miles on Taca and Taca Regional flights, Taca has partnerships with the following airlines:
Taca previously code-shared with its
One World Alliance partner,
American Airlines , however it abandoned in favor of United.
On
23 May 2007 , Lufthansa and Taca signed a memorandum of understanding to code share on domestic and international flights. Taca and Lufthansa are also considering reciprocal mileage earning in their respective frequent flyer programs, and reciprocal lounge access.
1
See Also: TACA Flight 110
May 24 ,
1988 ,
New Orleans, Louisiana ,
Boeing 737-3T0 : A double engine flameout due to water ingestion, a result of an inflight encounter with an area of very heavy rain and hail. The design of the engines and FAA water ingestion certification standards did not take account of the waterfall rates that can be expected in moderate or higher intensity thunderstorms.
NTSB Report
April 5 ,
1993 ,
Guatemala City, Guatemala ,
Boeing 767-200 , Flight 510: The jet landed on a rain-slicked runway at too fast a speed which resulted in the plane running off the end of the runway. There were no fatalities reported and only a few passengers had any injuries. This accident is notable in that it was caught on video inside the cabin.
NTSB Report Video of a passenger on the aircraft at the time of the accident
In the 1973 James Bond film: , when
James Bond (played by actor
Roger Moore ) and
Solitaire (played by actress
Jane Seymour ) are leaving
New Orleans International Airport (now
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport ), a sign with Taca International is shown.
