Aerolíneas Nicaragüenses S.A., operating as Aeronica, was an airline based in
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
. Headquartered in the capital
Managua
)
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, it operated scheduled passenger flights within Central America, as well as to Mexico City and the United States from of its
hub at the city's
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Augusto C. Sandino) or ACS is the main joint civil-military public international airport in Managua, Nicaragua. It is named after Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto ...
.
History
Aeronica was founded in 1981,
as a consequence of the demise of
LANICA
Líneas Aéreas de Nicaragua, operating as LANICA, was an airline from Nicaragua. Headquartered in the capital Managua, it operated scheduled passenger flights within South and Central America, as well as to the United States.
History
The ...
in earlier that year. Between 1985 and 1990, when the
United States embargo against Nicaragua
The United States embargo against Nicaragua was declared by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan on May 1, 1985, and prohibited all trade between the U.S. and Nicaragua. In a strategy similar to the embargo against Cuba, it was intended to undermine ...
was in effect, the airline was banned from serving the important United States market. Further,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
-built Tupolev TU-154M were introduced into the Aeronica fleet as spare parts for US-made aircraft such as the
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
,
Boeing 720B
The Boeing 720 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959.
Its type certificate was i ...
and
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...
could not be acquired. In the early 1990s, Aeronica came under economic, laboral and political pressure. Many of the airline's workers organized a strike in February 1992, over the privatization of their national airline. On February 28, 1992,
TACA acquired a 49 percent stake in the company, resulting in the loss of many jobs in Nicaragua. In the same year, the
airline license of Aeronica was revoked and in 1993 the airline shut down. Existing Aeronica airport infrastructure was then repurposed by
Grupo TACA
Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (''Air Transports of the American Continent'', known and branded formerly as TACA International), operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings based in El Salvador. As T ...
for use in their associated animal-transportation firm.
In 1994,
Grupo TACA
Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (''Air Transports of the American Continent'', known and branded formerly as TACA International), operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings based in El Salvador. As T ...
reestablished the airline as
NICA Airlines
Nica or NICA may refer to:
* Nīca, a village in Latvia
* Nica, the name in some languages of Nice, a French city
* Nica is an adjective which may refer to:
** Nicaragua
** Nicaraguan people
* Nica Airlines, an alternate name for Nicaragüense de ...
, with new colors and fleet. Ten years afterwards, TACA shut down the airline, due to marketing strategies in order to consolidate under the TACA Airlines branding in the region.
Destinations
During the 1980s, Aeronica offered scheduled international passenger flights to the following destinations:
;Costa Rica
*
San José -
Juan Santamaría International Airport
Juan Santamaría International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría) is the primary airport serving San José, the capital of Costa Rica. The airport is located in the city of Alajuela, 20 km (12 miles) west of downto ...
;El Salvador
*
San Salvador
San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...
-
Cuscatlan International Airport
;Guatemala
*
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 ...
-
La Aurora International Airport
La Aurora International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional La Aurora, ) serves Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located south of Guatemala City's center and from Antigua Guatemala. It is administered by the Dirección General de Aeronáut ...
;Mexico
*
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
-
Mexico City International Airport
Mexico City International Airport ( es, link=yes, Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México, AICM); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez'' (Benito Juárez International Airport) is the main international airport serving ...
;Nicaragua
*
Managua
)
, settlement_type = Capital city
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Nicara ...
-
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Augusto C. Sandino) or ACS is the main joint civil-military public international airport in Managua, Nicaragua. It is named after Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto ...
(hub)
;Panama
*
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
-
Tocumen International Airport
Tocumen International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen) is the primary international airport serving Panama City, the capital of Panama. The airport serves as the homebase for Copa Airlines and is a regional hub to and from Th ...
;United States
*
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
-
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...
Fleet
Over the years of its existence, Aeronica operated the following aircraft types:
Accidents and incidents
*On 12 December 1981, a bomb exploded inside the passenger cabin of a parked Aeronica
Boeing 727-100
The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...
(
registered YN-BXW) at
Mexico City International Airport
Mexico City International Airport ( es, link=yes, Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México, AICM); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez'' (Benito Juárez International Airport) is the main international airport serving ...
, tearing a hole into the fuselage. The captain, two flight attendants and a ground worker were injured. They had been on board the aircraft for pre-departure checks for a scheduled passenger flight to
San Salvador
San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...
and onwards to
Managua
)
, settlement_type = Capital city
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Nicara ...
.
*On 10 May 1982, two hijackers demanded a
Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando
The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...
to leave its
Bluefields
Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Mosquito Coast, Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divid ...
-
Big Corn Island route and land in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
instead. The pilots obeyed and landed at
Limón
Limón (), commonly known as Puerto Limón, is a district, the capital city and main hub of Limón province, as well as of the Limón canton in Costa Rica. It is the seventh largest city in Costa Rica, with a population of over 55,000, and is ho ...
, where the perpetrators surrendered.
*On 29 June 1983, an Aeronica
CASA C-212 Aviocar
The CASA C-212 Aviocar is a turboprop-powered STOL medium cargo aircraft designed and built by the Spanish aircraft manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). It is designed for use by both civil and military operators.
The C-212 w ...
(registered YN-BYZ) was damaged beyond economical repair in a crash landing at
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Augusto C. Sandino) or ACS is the main joint civil-military public international airport in Managua, Nicaragua. It is named after Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto ...
, which happened because the copilot had accidentally applied
reverse thrust
Thrust reversal, also called reverse thrust, is the temporary diversion of an aircraft engine's thrust for it to act against the forward travel of the aircraft, providing deceleration. Thrust reverser systems are featured on many jet aircraft to ...
rather than the
flaps immediately before landing.
*On 20 April 1985, a problem was encountered with the additional fuel tanks that a
Fokker F27 Friendship
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...
(registered YN-BZF) had been fitted with for the delivery flight to Aeronica from Europe to Nicaragua. The pilots decided to return to
Kulusuk Airport
Kulusuk Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Kulusuk) is an airport in Kulusuk, a settlement on an island of the same name off the shore of the North Atlantic in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland.
History
The airstrip was built by US d ...
in
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
, the place of their most recent fuel stop, but failed to do so. The aircraft crashed on a snow-covered strip, killing two of the five occupants.
*On 28 December 1987 at 14:36 local time, an Aeronica
Douglas DC-6
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, it was reworked after the war to compete with th ...
lost its inner right engine whilst en route a cargo flight from Managua to
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
. Debris had also damaged the outer right engine, forcing the pilots to execute a
water landing
In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the water ...
in a river in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
, which all six persons on board survived.
*The worst accident in the history of Aeronica happened on 26 May 1988, when another DC-6 (registered YN-CBE) crashed near Limón in Costa Rica, killing the six occupants.
*On 10 November 1991, an Aeronica Boeing 727-100 (registered YN-BXW, the same aircraft that had been damaged in a bomb explosion in 1981) was destroyed in a fire at Managua Airport, which had arisen from an ignited
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
leak during maintenance work.
References
{{Portal, Nicaragua, Aviation
Defunct airlines of Nicaragua
Airlines established in 1981
Airlines disestablished in 1992
Companies based in Managua