Aero Caribbean (Empresa Aerocaribbean SA) was an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

based in

Vedado Vedado ( es, El Vedado, ) is a central business district and urban neighborhood in the city of Havana, Cuba. Bordered on the east by Calzada de Infanta and Central Havana, and on the west by the Alemendares River and Miramar / Playa distric ...

Plaza de la Revolución Plaza de la Revolución (), "Revolution Square", is a municipality (or borough) and a square in Havana, Cuba. The municipality, one of the 15 forming the city, stretches from the square down to the sea at the Malecón and includes the Vedado d ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It operated scheduled domestic passenger services to domestic destinations and international services, and charter flights mainly within the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Its main base was at

José Martí International Airport José Martí International Airport , sometimes known by its former name Rancho Boyeros Airport, is an international airport located southwest of the centre of Havana, Cuba, and is a hub for Cubana de Aviación and Aerogaviota, and former Latin ...

, Havana.

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

27 March 2007

History

The airline was established in 1982 as ''Empresa Aero'' and started operations on 2 December 1982. It was set up by the Cuban government to provide domestic flights and regional charters to supplement national carrier Cubana. It was wholly owned by the government of Cuba.North American Airlines Handbook published by Airways International Inc 1997 It has since been merged with

Cubana de Aviación Cubana de Aviación S.A., commonly known as Cubana, is Cuba's flag carrier, as well as the country's largest airline. It was founded in , becoming one of the earliest airlines to emerge in Latin America. It has its corporate headquarters in Ha ...

in 2015.

Destinations

Aero Caribbean operated the following destinations: *Domestic scheduled destinations:

Cayo Coco Cayo Coco (''Cays'') or (''The Keys)'' is an island in central Cuba, known for its all-inclusive resorts. It lies within the Ciego de Ávila Province and is part of a chain of islands called Jardines del Rey (''King's Gardens''). The cay is adminis ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Holguín Holguín () is a municipality and city in Cuba, and the capital of Province of Holguín. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, Cayo Largo,

Nueva Gerona Nueva Gerona is a Cuban city, capital of the Isla de la Juventud special municipality and province. As of 2012, its population was 59,049. History The city was founded in 1830 by Francisco Dionisio Vives, who was the Spanish governor of Cuba a ...

Varadero Varadero (), also referred to as ''Playa Azul'' (Blue Beach), is a resort town in the province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero Beach was rated one of the world's best beaches in ...

. *International scheduled destinations:

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

Corn Island The Corn Islands are two islands about east of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. The official name of the municipality is ''Corn Island'' (the English name is ...

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

, Mérida,

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671,460 ...

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

Punta Cana Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It is part of the Veron–Punta Cana Municipalities of the Dominican Republic, municipal district, in the Salvaleón de Higüey, Higüey municipality of La Altagraci ...

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

*Former scheduled destinations :

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Fleet

The Aero Caribbean fleet included the following aircraft (as of November 2012): *3

ATR 42-300 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) and Ae ...

*4 ATR 72-212 ON 19 September 2008, the average age of the Aero Caribbean fleet was 15.8 years ().

Previously operated

Aerocaribbean had operated the following aircraft in the past: *1

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irku ...

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 ( NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twin ...

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

configured for Y28 passengers *1 Fokker F-27F Friendship configured for Y44 passengers/freight *5 Ilyushin Il-18D/V configured for Y100 passengers/freight (flying Havana-Bahamas and Havana-Caracas) *1

Ilyushin Il-14M The Ilyushin Il-14 ( NATO reporting name: Crate) was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. The Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VEB ...

configured for Y40 passengers *6

Yakovlev Yak-40 The Yakovlev Yak-40 (russian: Яковлев Як-40; NATO reporting name: Codling) is a regional jet designed by Yakovlev. The trijet's maiden flight was in 1966, and it was in production from 1967 to 1981. Introduced in September 1968, the Ya ...

configured for Y30 passengers/freighter *4

Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max Ho ...

Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the Commonwealth. During development two prototypes were lost and the turboprop engines proved sus ...

Accidents and incidents

* On 15 November 1992, an Il-18 on a charter flight from

to Havana crashed into the side of mount Isabel de Torres, near

San Felipe de Puerto Plata Puerto Plata, officially known as San Felipe de Puerto Plata, is the third-largest city in the Dominican Republic, and capital of the Provinces of the Dominican Republic, province of Puerto Plata (province), Puerto Plata. The city is a trading por ...

, while on approach to

Gregorio Luperón International Airport Gregorio Luperón International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Gregorio Luperón) , also known as Puerto Plata Airport, is located in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. It is the Dominican Republic's fourth busiest airport by pa ...

for an intermediate stop. The plane was flying in

IFR In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

conditions and performed a

controlled flight into terrain In aviation, a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT; usually ) is an aviation accidents and incidents, accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under aircraft pilot, pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of ...

. All 34 on board perished, including the Dominican

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

team. The aircraft lost in the accident was the same plane that was filmed in 1986 Soviet disaster film '' Razmakh krylyev''. * On 4 November 2010, Flight 883, operated by an ATR 72-212, crashed at

Guasimal Guasimal is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Sancti Spíritus, in Sancti Spíritus Province. In 2011 it had a population of about 5,000. History The village was founded in 1865. In la ...

, while en route from

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. All 61 passengers and 7 crew members were killed. The most likely cause was icing on the wing.

References

External links

{{Airlines of Cuba
Official website
link dead September 2015 Defunct airlines of Cuba Airlines established in 1982 Airlines disestablished in 2015 Government-owned airlines 1982 establishments in Cuba 2015 disestablishments in Cuba