LATAM Colombia

Former AIRES Bombardier Dash 8 Q200

The airline was founded on October 2, 1980, starting operations in February 20, 1981 with a few small planes, until they acquired some Embraer 110 Bandeirante and Fairchild F27. In 1990, the airline registered a 9% decrease in passenger transport.

However, with the rise of AeroRepública in 1992, it meant that they had a new competitor in the Colombia market. The airline made small expansions, mostly adding service to the neighboring countries of Venezuela and Ecuador.

In November 1998, the airline began its coverage in the Caribbean Region, opening a base of operations in Barranquilla, from where flights began to: Cartagena, Santa Marta, Valledupar, Corozal among other cities in the north of the country.

On December 13, 2000, the airline began its internationalization with the opening of the Barranquilla-Oranjestad, Aruba route, flying twice a week, later it began operations to Willemstad, Curaçao.

In 2004, the company made a corporate image change, as well as the change in the stationery, said investment had a cost of close to 1,000 million pesos.

In 2009, with the beginning of the trunk routes, a new era began and thus rubbed shoulders with Avianca and Copa Airlines Colombia, and this was done by incorporating Jet aircraft and breaking the tariff scheme by becoming a low-cost airline.

On October 28, 2010, it was announced that 98% of the shares in the previous airline AIRES had been acquired by Chilean carrier LAN Airlines. On November 26, 2010 LAN Airlines announced that it completed the purchase of 98.9% of AIRES shares, assuming its total debt and including it in the LAN holding company as another subsidiary of the group. On December 3, 2011, AIRES was renamed and started operations as LAN Colombia, becoming a member of the aeronautical holding LATAM Airlines Group.

It became an affiliate member of the Oneworld alliance on 1 October 2013, but left on 1 May 2020.[3][4]

• On January 28, 2008, AIRES Flight 053 overran the runway at Bogota's El Dorado airport, en route from Maracaibo, Venezuela after the left hand main gear collapsed. The aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8-200, registration HK-3997. The probable cause for the crash was that the aircraft was carrying out a landing with an unresolved fault in the left engine, which prevented the aircraft from being able to stop within the length of runway available, causing a runway excursion. A contributing factor was the failure to correct the maintenance reports in a satisfactory manner and failure to properly follow-up on repetitive entries.[9]

• On August 23, 2008, AIRES Flight 051 sustained substantial damage following the collapse of the right hand main landing gear on landing at Barranquilla-Ernesto Cortissoz Airport (BAQ), Colombia. None of the 31 occupants were injured. The Bombardier Dash 8-300, registered HK-3952, operated on an international flight from Curaçao-Hato International Airport (CUR). The approach and landing were normal, touching down about 770 metres (2,530 ft) past the threshold of runway 23. The crew noticed a vibration of the right hand main gear. The undercarriage leg collapsed. There was no fire.[10]

• On August 16, 2010, AIRES Flight 8250 crashed on landing at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport, in San Andrés, Colombia, after reportedly being struck by lightning during a thunderstorm. The death of one person was reported as a result of a heart attack on the way to the hospital and another 129 were injured.[11] One of the injured occupants later died.[12] The cause was later determined to be pilot error.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LATAM Colombia.

• Official website
• (in Spanish) Conexión (inflight magazine)
• (in Spanish) LAN Airlines buys Aires