Avianca Cargo (formerly ''Tampa Cargo - Transportes Aereos Mercantiles PanAmericanos S.A.'') is a

cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of air cargo, cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airli ...

based at

José María Córdova International Airport José María Córdova International Airport is an international airport located in the city of Rionegro, south-east of Medellín, and is the List of the busiest airports in Colombia, second largest airport in Colombia after El Dorado Internatio ...

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. It is an all-cargo airline transporting flowers from

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, as well as general cargo throughout the Americas.

History

The airline was established on March 11, 1973, by Luís H. Coulson, Captain Juan Fernando Mesa, Captain Orlando Botero Escobar, and Captain Anibal Obando Echeverri. It commenced operations with a

Douglas DC-6A The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, Douglas reworked it after the war to compete wi ...

, which formed part of the initial acquired fleet. These were retired in the early 1980s. After overcoming several crises due to drug trafficking problems in one of its aircraft, in 1988, Tampa Cargo decided to renew its fleet by bringing

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...

s with the most modern technology of its time, including GPS positioning systems and CFM engines.

Martinair Martinair (legally ''Martinair Holland N.V.'') is a Dutch cargo and former passenger airline headquartered and based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The airline was founded in 1958 by Martin Schröder (aviator), Martin Schröder, and is currently ...

signed an agreement to acquire a 40% stake in Tampa Cargo in 1996, which was later increased to 58% in 2003. On July 26, 2003, the company inaugurated its Maintenance Hangar in Rionegro-Antioquia, and the new route to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

was placed in operation that same year. In September 2004, Tampa Cargo started its fleet renovation by incorporating the

Boeing 767-200ER The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

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 ...

acquired a 100% stake in Tampa Cargo in July 2008. On February 1, 2010, Tampa Cargo was advised that after concluding the regulatory approval and the approval of competencies required to concrete the union announced in October 2009,

Synergy Group Synergy Group Corp. is a South American conglomerate created and owned by Germán Efromovich. The group is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It operates several airlines in South America, among which are Avianca Group (formerly Avianca ...

, the owner of Avianca, and Kingsland Holding Limited, the owner of Grupo TACA, signed the Agreement through which the closing that started up the strategic union of their businesses was made official, and that the name of the strategic union was AviancaTaca Holding. Then, the holding created the Cargo Vice-Presidency to which Tampa Cargo and its cargo aircraft fleet belong, naming Tampa Cargo the administrator of the Avianca and Taca commercial aircraft capacity. On September 27, 2011, Avianca ordered four

Airbus A330-200F The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

s to replace the existing Tampa Cargo fleet, with deliveries to commence in December 2012. This made Tampa Cargo the first A330F operator in Latin America. The airline was rebranded as Avianca Cargo on May 28, 2013.

Destinations

Avianca Cargo operates to the following destinations:

Fleet

Current

The Avianca Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft as of May 2024.

Former

The airline previously operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

*On December 14, 1983, a

Boeing 707-320C The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on December 20, 1957. Pan Am be ...

(registered HK-2401X) crashed into a factory after taking off from Medellín's

Olaya Herrera Airport Olaya Herrera Airport () is an airport located in Medellín, Colombia, that serves regional and domestic flights. Additionally, the airport is used by general aviation and features several hangars for charters. It was formerly known as ''Medel ...

. The cause of the accident was a failure of engines 3 and 4 by foreign objects during the initial ascent. All 3 crew members on board died, plus 22 on the ground. *On July 14, 1989, a Douglas DC-8-63F (registered HK-3490X) took off from

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary international airport serving Miami and its Miami metropolitan area, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Florida. It hosts over 1, ...

, when the main cargo door opened shortly after. The aircraft returned to the airport and landed safely. *On October 9, 1994, a

(registered HK-3355X) was flying from

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

. When climbing, the second hydraulic pump light of the engine 3 illuminated. The leak couldn't be stopped and the aircraft returned to São Paulo. The nosegear didn't extend and the main gear didn't lock down and the aircraft slid during the emergency landing. None of the 5 occupants on board were killed. *On February 4, 2007, a Douglas DC-8-71F (registered HK-4277), operating a cargo flight to

, veered to the right during landing approach. The pilot thought it may have been due to a crosswind, but he soon realized that the right main landing gear had collapsed. The NTSB post-accident investigation later determined that the aircraft's landing gear had collapsed due to improper torque of a landing gear lockbolt by company maintenance personnel during landing gear installation. None of the 3 occupants on board were killed, while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of Colombia Avianca Airlines of Colombia Airlines established in 1973 Cargo airlines Colombian companies established in 1973