Transportes Aéreos Nacionales SA, also known as TAN Airlines, was a Honduran airline, headquartered at the Edificio TAN in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

. The

carrier Carrier may refer to: Entertainment * ''Carrier'' (album), a 2013 album by The Dodos * ''Carrier'' (board game), a South Pacific World War II board game * ''Carrier'' (TV series), a ten-part documentary miniseries that aired on PBS in April 20 ...

was set up in 1947 and merged into

SAHSA ''Servicio Aéreo de Honduras S.A.'' otherwise known as SAHSA Airlines was the national flag carrier airline of Honduras from October 22, 1945, to January 14, 1994. The airline was a subsidiary of Pan American Airways and merged with ''Transpor ...

, another Honduran airline, in .

History

The airline was formed in 1947 by private investors to operate cargo flights by contract. In 1950, the company started scheduled passenger and cargo services. At , the fleet consisted of three

C-46 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 ...

s serving a route network that was long. In 1967, TAN and

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 ...

agreed to operate LANICA's single

BAC One-Eleven 400 The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

jet on a joint basis; the joint operation of the aircraft started on . Douglas DC-6A HR-TNQ TAN MIA 25

The airline acquired a

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 ...

A freighter aircraft in March 1973 and operated it until its sale in September 1979, using it particularly on their route to

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 ...

. In , TAN acquired

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

's 38% holding in

. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight sta ...

( OAG), TAN was operating a

Convair 880 The Convair 880 is an American narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When ...

jet in 1972 on flights to Miami. An ex-

Pluna PLUNA Líneas Aéreas Uruguayas S.A. was the flag carrier of Uruguay. It was headquartered in Carrasco, Montevideo and operated scheduled services within South America, as well as scheduled cargo and charter services from its hub at Carrasco I ...

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 ...

jet was incorporated into the fleet in . The aircraft was part of the fleet by , along with one DC-6B and two

Lockheed L-188 Electra The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes that led to expensiv ...

turboprops; at this time, the airline had 400 employees. According to the OAG, in 1980 TAN was serving Miami nonstop from Belize City and San Pedro Sula as well as operating direct flights to Miami from La Ceiba and Tegucigalpa primarily with the Boeing 737-200 with some passenger flights being operated with the Lockheed L-188 Electra. In , the company experienced its worst accident when a

Boeing 727-200 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 airpor ...

crashed on approach to Toncontín Airport, killing 131 occupants on board. On 1 November 1991, TAN Airlines merged with SAHSA, adopting the latter name.

Destinations

Transportes Aéreos Nacionales served the following destinations all through its history: ;Belize *

Belize City Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, wh ...

Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport is an airport that serves the nation of Belize's largest city, Belize City along the eastern coast of Central America. It was named after politician Philip S. W. Goldson, who died in 2001. The airp ...

;Honduras *

La Ceiba La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida (department), Atlántida and a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean, forming part ...

Golosón International Airport Golosón International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Golosón) is an airport located on the western side of the city of La Ceiba, in the Atlántida Department on the north coast of Honduras. It is also known as La Ceiba Air ...

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 ...

Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Ramón Villeda Morales) , also known as La Mesa International Airport, is located southeast of the city of San Pedro Sula, in the Cortés Department of Honduras. The ...

Toncontín International Airport Toncontín International Airport or Teniente Coronel Hernán Acosta Mejía Airport is a civil and military airport located from the centre of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The History Channel programme ''Most Extreme Airports'' ranks it as the second ...

;Mexico * Mexico D.F.

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 ...

;United States *Miami

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 ...

Accidents and incidents

, ''

Aviation Safety Network The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is an independent, nonprofit, international organization concerning research, education, advocacy, and communications in the field of aviation safety. FSF brings together aviation professionals from all sectors ...

'' recorded six accidents or incidents for Transportes Aéreos Nacionales, totalling at least 138 fatalities. The worst accident in the airline's history occurred in , when a

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 ...

crashed on approach to Toncontín Airport in

, killing 131 of 146 occupants of the aircraft. , the accident remains the deadliest one to occur on Honduran soil. Following is a list of accidents/incidents experienced by the carrier; the list includes events in which there were fatalities, the aircraft involved resulted damaged beyond repair, or both.

Bibliography

* Roach, J and Eastwood, A.B., Piston Engined Airliner Production List, The Aviation Hobby Shop, West Drayton, Middlesex, 2007, ISBN None.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transportes Aereos Nacionales Defunct airlines of Honduras SAHSA Airlines established in 1947 Airlines disestablished in 1991

History

Destinations

Accidents and incidents

See also

Bibliography

References