Aerolíneas Peruanas

Aerolíneas Peruanas was founded by C. W. Shelton in September 1956,[6] with 77 percent of the company's shares spread amongst private Peruvian investors.[5] Flight operations were launched in mid-1957, on the Lima to Santiago and Miami routes.[5] Originally not a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA was only joined in 1966), APSA could significantly undercut the usual airline fares for flights between South America and the USA.[7] To strengthen its market position, APSA went into a partnership with Transportes Aéreos Nacionales (TAN, from Honduras) and Compañía Ecuatoriana de Aviación (CEA, from Ecuador).[7][2]

The Douglas DC-6 being the aircraft most commonly used with the airline in the early 1960s,[7][8] Aerolíneas Peruanas joined the jet age on 1 December 1963 with the introduction of the Convair 990 Coronado.[9] During those years, the network was greatly expanded,[4] which culminated in the launch of transatlantic flights using the Douglas DC-8 by the end of the decade.[10][6]

In the early 1970s, Aerolíneas Peruanas found itself in a worsening financial situation. Plans for a take-over by the Peruvian government and Spanish national airline Iberia failed, so that the company was forced to cease all flight operations on 2 May 1971.[11]

APSA offered scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations:[2][8][12][3][4]

Over the years, APSA operated the following aircraft types:[1]

On 11 January 1969, an Aerolíneas Peruanas Convair 990 Coronado was hijacked en route a flight from Panama City to Miami and forced to divert to Cuba.[18] At that time, such United States-Cuba hijackings had become common occurrences.