LAC Linea Aérea Cuencana prepares its return

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Saturday 26 August in Guayaquil, It was learned that LAC Línea Aereas Cuencana is preparing its return to fly in Ecuador, This time it would be in the form of regular flights after having operated as a charter for a little more than 2 years.

UPDATE 04/03/2019:

With date 23 of January of 2019, LAC withdrew its request to renew its operating permit under the public air transport operating modality, domestic, not regular under the passenger charter modality, cargo and mail, in combined form:

With this, we could be seeing the definitive end of the airline, of which nothing new has been heard since his intention to fly again in August 2017.

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Initially with your CRJ-700 HC-CMY, operated regular flights from Cuenca to Guayaquil and triangulating with Quito. Subsequently, They extended their flight from Quito to Loja – Catamayo and Cuenca operating until 2 Daily flights.

As the months passed, its operation was compressed until it was only limited to the Quito Loja Quito route., after having failed to capture the executive market with a single price of $99 round trip to all your initial destinations, where a differentiated VIP on-board service was offered unlike traditional airlines.

The route to Loja from Quito also did not allow profitability for the airline and they ended up ceasing regular operations and stopping operations for a few weeks until their operation was restructured.. with this for, The airline decided to start flying only charter flights., thus modifying your operating permit. It was based in Latacunga, Cotopaxi International Airport and charter flights operated successfully to the Caribbean such as Punta Cana, Cartagena, also Panama plus other destinations at the request of tourism wholesalers, football teams and celebrities.

The strong business for LAC was the oil companies, for which he flew daily on charter from Latacunga to Coca and Lago Agrio. Given the rise in demand, LAC rented the Boeing 737-500 HC-COP that belonged to Suramericana de Aviación (although it never started regular flights) taking advantage of the fact that the team was already certified in Ecuador along with its cabin crew and pilots. At a certain point, both aircraft operated until, due to demand, the CRJ-700 was returned to its owner in the United States in April 2016, currently operates in Canada.

The outlook until that minute was favorable and new projects such as tourist charter flights within Ecuador to Manta or the Galapagos from Latacunga had a good outlook., but the drop in the price of oil and the economic crisis in Ecuador in general were gradually reducing the airline's income and together with the new regulation that limits the number of charter flights per year and the number of passengers in this modality, The airline ended up closing its operations and returning its Boeing to the owner. 737 in july 2016.

After this closure, little has been known about the airline, but some requests have been made to the National Civil Aviation Council of Ecuador:

From #Latacunga, #LAC plans to operate again to foreign destinations such as #Peru, #Mexico, #Brazil, #Argentina and others as detailed. pic.twitter.com/3oGpE3vgdG

— Nicholas Larenas ✈️ (@n_larenas) June 9, 2017

With the possible incorporation of new aircraft, LAC requested to fly to Aruba, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Argentina and the United States, so it will need to incorporate medium-range aircraft to achieve this. This same application potentially details ATR aircraft, Dash series C y Q, Embraer E-Jet and E-Jet E2 aircraft plus the Airbus family, although it was learned that Boeing equipment 737 would be the ones who would be incorporated. Due to price issues, They are the best options.

They have authorized @LAC_Ecuador incorporate plane #Aries8 to your operating permit. Se prevé un potencial reinicio de vuelos con este equipo ✈️ pic.twitter.com/24hpWoPmTn

— Nicholas Larenas ✈️ (@n_larenas) March 5, 2017

For domestic flights, The airline has already been authorized to incorporate Dash aircraft 8-200 within the framework of changing your permit from charter to regular operator in Ecuador.

Today in #AvGeekDay, ecuadorian airline #LAC, announces return to regular operations in #Ecuador. They will fly #Boeing y aviones turbo prop ✈️ pic.twitter.com/QWG4oGvXSz

— Nicholas Larenas ✈️ (@n_larenas) August 26, 2017

After a year since they stopped flying, could be confirmed directly with the airline, that will fly again and even with new shareholders. In the immediate plan is the start of regular national flights to destinations from Quito such as Loja and Cuenca with up to 3 daily frequencies and Guayaquil to Cuenca, this as the first stage, still pending the incorporation of their new aircraft for this new opportunity for the airline. There is talk that the CRJ-700 HC-CMY could potentially return to Ecuador until new aircraft are incorporated, in a strategy that aims to be aggressive and the base would be Guayaquil.