Arca Colombia

At the beginning of the 1970s, some of the DC-3s were sold to Aerosucre, Laos and Alianza, all of them cargo operators at the La Vanguardia Airport, while the permit to start operating the route was processed before the SAUCA Charge to Miami. In 1973, SAUCA authorized Arca the cargo operation to Miami International Airport from Bogotá, this was done on an intermediate scale in Barranquilla in the newly acquired Douglas DC-6B. Thus, Arca entered into strong competition with Avinca, Aerocosta and Aerocóndor on the cargo route to Miami. Arca was part of the Big Four airlines of Colombia at that time and was highly considered among other airlines, at that point in the mid-70s it was the peak of its success.

In 1975, Arca entered the jet era by leasing a Boeing 707-120F, with a wide cargo door to transport flowers and perishable products between Bogotá and Miami, mainly, a route that had been approved by the SAUCA. This rare Boeing 707 belonged to the Swiss cargo company Phoenix, which retained some emblems during its short operation in Arca. In 1977 the company achieved sufficient financial capacity to acquire its first Douglas DC-8-43 (registered as HK-1854), through Alitalia, to increase cargo operations between Bogotá and Miami. This would be the first DC-8 operated in Colombia; In addition, he introduced the new image of the following Arca aircraft, preserving the colors of the Italian airline. The particular thing about this aircraft was that it had no loading door, so loading and unloading operations took a long time.

Douglas DC-8-53(F) of ARCA Colombia at Miami International Airport

At that time, Arca became the first Colombian cargo airline to fly the DC-8 to Miami. In addition, they bought a simulator, installed in the former loading area at Miami. Arca was characterized from then, until it ceased operations, for having two DC-8s operating simultaneously. Other cities were included in cargo operations from Miami, such as Cali, Cartagena, Medellín, Barranquilla, San Andrés and Bucaramanga, when there was demand. In January 1981, the first DC-8-50F with wide cargo door, HK-2587-X, was acquired from Braniff. For the first months of operation, the aircraft retained the red color with the Ark emblems. This DC-8 lasted the longest in operation at the company, until the airline ceased operations. Thanks to the acquisition of these new DC-8, with more load capacity, the kind of cargo brought from Miami began to vary. It began to bring cars, spare parts and, in some cases, horses. By the beginning of that decade, Arca closed a temporary contract with Air France to bring cargo from Martinique. In mid-1981, he acquired a Douglas DC-8-30F on lease, through F.A. Conner,[2] whose license plate was N53CA, which operated for a few weeks. By the beginning of 1982, the second Douglas DC-8-50F arrived with a wide cargo door, HK-2667-X, previously operated by Japan Airlines, which is why it was known among Arca's crew as Japanese.

The itinerary of the Arca flights with flowers and other perishable items, at that time, was scheduled to leave Bogotá at dawn to arrive in Miami very early in the morning. The aircraft was unloaded and was ready before noon to return to Colombia. In mid-1982, Douglas DC-8 HK-2587-X suffered an accident arriving at Cali from Miami, leaving the runway due to a hydraulic failure and loss of nosewheel steering, a factor aggravated by the wet runway. The break at the airport lasted for three days, while the aircraft was removed and the runway cleared. The aircraft returned to operations after repair.[3]

In the early eighties, the arrival from Miami at Olaya Herrera Airport, Medellín was sometimes considered a feat of the pilots. Since the aircraft arrived with full cargo on most flights and was sometimes overloaded. Sometimes, after landing, the aircraft's tires deflated on the platform because of a safety valve that overheated due to the intensive braking that was needed to stop the aircraft. In addition, for this aircraft only runway 19 was available to land, even with tail wind. Which definitely slowed down all flights at Olaya Herrera Airport and made the mechanics jobs much easier if no flights are going out.

During the 1980s, Arca initiated operating agreements with the cargo airline, Ecuador Andes, thus the Douglas DC-8 HK-2667X was transferred to it, and shared flights were initiated to the Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport from Miami and Colombia. By the end of that decade an additional Douglas DC-8 were acquired.

Douglas DC-8-55(F) of ARCA Colombia at Miami International Airport

At the beginning of the last decade, after having signed the Open Skies Agreement of the Andean Pact,[4] especially with Venezuela, Arca processed before the SAUCA the authorization to transport passengers between Cartagena and Miami with seven weekly frequencies in Douglas DC-8 aircraft for 180 passengers at a cost of $279, about half of what an ordinary ticket cost; He also requested permission to fly the Bogotá-Cartagena, Cartagena-Medellín and Cartagena-Cali routes with passengers. Arca's request was supported by the National Tourism Corporation (NTC). His representative, Luis Baldión, said at the public hearing that the request was presented that the entity supported the initiative that tends to make tourism an industry. Dozens of Colombians in Miami joined their voice to call to break the monopoly and lower air fares between the United States and Colombia. In the Colombia la Grande radio program, broadcast by WRHC Cadena Azul, calls were received from the public to support Arca, who also sent his signatures of support to the head of the SAUCA at that time, José Joaquín Palacio Campuzano.[5] Days after studying the petition, the SAUCA denied Arca the approval of these routes. The decision adopted was based on the recommendation of the Higher Aeronautical Council,[6] which considered it inconvenient for the company, to operate cargo, to move passengers, in particular on the most important routes for the country.

After knowing the refusal of the SAUCA, Captain Gutierrez founded the airline in Venezuela and taking advantage of the bilateral agreement within the framework of the Andean Pact,[7] he began operating with passenger routes between different cities of Colombia and Miami via Maracaibo with DC-8 equipment at really cheaper prices. In 1992, one of the last Douglas DC-8-50F operated by the airline, the N5842A, was acquired on leasing, which was completely white. In June 1993, one of the most unusual events in the history of Arca occurred. To the surprise of many, a stowaway boy, Guillermo Rosales, 13, was found alive on the landing gear of a company Douglas DC-8, at Miami International Airport, at 2 a.m., in a flight with flowers from Bogotá. The fact astonished doctors and aviation experts, since the boy survived the extreme conditions of temperature and lack of oxygen.

The decade of the nineties would mark a crisis not only for Arca, but for all Colombian freight airlines, because of several circumstances that combined against the airline industry in the country. The main one was drug trafficking, a ballast that a large investment in security, regulated by the FAA, was required to combat it, in order to operate in the United States, in addition to the noise restriction, which forced Stage I and hush kits to be adopted, which it would increase the unforeseen expenses that the airlines had to make in their Douglas DC-8, in addition to the decertification that the country suffered due to the Samper government scandal. By mid-1994 one of the Douglas DC-8, HK-3125-X, ended its useful life and was grounded. Contacts were made to acquire a Douglas DC-10-10 (F) on lease, with construction number 46727, but the transaction was canceled. During the following years it was increasingly difficult to continue loading operations; FAA pressure became increasingly rigorous while the tough competition of international freight airlines made the operation less profitable.

On January 24, 1997, Arca was intervened by the SAUCA. The director of the entity, Abel Enrique Jiménez, and the head of the Office of Control and Security, Captain Germán Duarte, said that in the process of inspection, they had to paralyze the operation they had been carrying out the aircraft of the company, because they did not meet the requirements to fly to the United States. So the company was under fire for having not completed the inspection on aircraft and the financial status of the company. The immobilization of each DC-8 represented for the company a 50% decrease in its revenues and that since the beginning of 1996 the SAUCA was lowered by the FAA to category two, for not exercising an adequate inspection on the airlines.

In mid-1997 the FAA fined Arca with a sum of $68,000, for not complying with a maintenance plan. According to the FAA, Arca made a series of flights on the Douglas DC-8-55F between June 1992 and August 1993 without a necessary ventilation system for the main cargo door within a stipulated period. These decisions, the lack of government support and decertification were events that unfortunately marked the end of the company, its three DC-8s, HK-2587X, HK-3746X and N5824A were immobilized at Miami and then scrapped totally at the end of that decade in the famous airport sector known as "Corrosion Corner".[8]