Aero Caribbean (Empresa Aerocaribbean SA) was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

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 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 sout ...

. 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 old ...

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,

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 ...

, 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. *International scheduled destinations: Cayman Islands,

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 = Nicar ...

, Mérida, San Pedro Sula, Port-au-Prince,

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) , webs ...

Punta Cana Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It is part of the Veron–Punta Cana municipal district, in the Higüey municipality of La Altagracia Province. According to the 2010 census, this district had a ...

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, ne ...

*Former scheduled destinations : Monterrey,

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 A ...

*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, Ir ...

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 Tw ...

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

*2 Douglas DC-3 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 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 ...

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 ...

*2 Bristol Britannia

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 province of Puerto Plata. The city is a trading port. Puerto Plata has resorts such as Playa Dorada and Costa Do ...

, 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 conditions and performed a

controlled flight into terrain In aviation, a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT; usually ) is an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or an obstacle. In a typical CFIT scenario, ...

. 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 dist ...

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