EquinoxAir S.A.S, which operated under the Equair brand, was an airline headquartered in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. It operated domestic flights, between Quito,

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

and the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

. The airline competed with the Ecuadorian subsidiaries of

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

and LATAM, as well as

Aeroregional Servicio Aereo Regional Cia Ltda., marketed as Aeroregional, is a regional airline from Ecuador with its hub in Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and sec ...

History

Equair was founded in October 2020 as ''EquinoxAir''. It started its formation process with the authorities, and in March 2021 it got assigned some of the frequencies to the

Baltra Baltra Island () is a small island in the Galápagos Archipelago in Ecuador. It is a small flat island located near the center of the chain and includes Seymour Airport (GPS), originally established by the United States Air Force to help monit ...

and San Cristóbal islands that

TAME Tame may refer to: *Taming, the act of training wild animals * River Tame, Greater Manchester *River Tame, West Midlands and the Tame Valley * Tame, Arauca, a Colombian town and municipality * "Tame" (song), a song by the Pixies from their 1989 a ...

used to operate before its dissolution. On November 16, 2021, the company was officially presented and the Equair brand was revealed in an event that took place in ''Centro de Convenciones Bicentenario'', Quito. On December 4, 2021, Equair received the first aircraft of its fleet, a

Boeing 737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it has been pr ...

. This aircraft was ferried from

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Latacunga Latacunga (; Quechua: Latakunga) is a plateau city of Ecuador, capital of the Cotopaxi Province, south of Quito, near the confluence of the Alaquez and Cutuchi rivers to form the Patate, the headstream of the Pastaza. At the time of census ...

, Ecuador with stopovers in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Equair was expected to have its inaugural flight, between Quito and Guayaquil on December 22, 2021, but was delayed to January 2022 due to a COVID-19 outbreak between the employees of the airline.

Gabriela Sommerfeld María Gabriela Sommerfeld Rosero became the Ecuadorian foreign minister in 2023. She led tourism for Quito, and had been the CEO of multiple airlines and a leading hotel. Life Sommerfeld was educated at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito an ...

was named as the CEO at the opening ceremony that was attended by Marcelo Cabrera who was the Minister of Transportation. On January 7, 2022, the airline received its operation certificate from the Ecuadorian Civil Aviation General Directorate, after a demonstration flight to the Galápagos Islands was carried out. Then, on January 10, 2022, the airline had its inaugural flight between Quito and Guayaquil. Equair introduced its frequent flyer program on May 17, 2022, under the "Cacao Miles" name. Besides accruing miles, the program offers discounts with affiliates and in-flight perks. On September 30, 2023, Equair announced it was shutting down its operations with immediate effect, citing causes as the rising cost of fuel and a reduction in demand for national routes.

Destinations

The airline focuses its operations on domestic flights.

Fleet

In November 2022, the Equair fleet included three aircraft:

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of Ecuador Defunct airlines of Ecuador Airlines established in 2020 Airlines disestablished in 2023 2020 establishments in Ecuador 2023 disestablishments in Ecuador

History

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References

External links