TAME

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TAME Línea Aérea del Ecuador

IATA EQ ICAO TAE Callsign TAME
Founded	1962
Hubs	Mariscal Sucre International Airport
Frequent flyer program	Distancia TAME (shared with TACA Airlines)
Fleet size	11
Destinations	14
Parent company	Ecuadorian Air Force
Headquarters	Quito, Ecuador
Key people	Cesar Naranjo A. President
Website	tame.com.ec/index.php?lang=en

TAME, Línea Aérea del Ecuador, commonly referred to as Tame, is the Ecuadorian airline with its headquarters located in Quito, Ecuador. The airline was founded on December 17, 1962, one of its objective is to offer air transport for people and freight services to various cities in Ecuador as well as in one city in Colombia, Cali. Moreover, TAME offers charter flights to: Cartagena, San Andres, Panama, Punta Cana, Jamaica, Havana, Varadero and Curacao, TAME works alongside several tour operators: Decameron, Viamerica, Feritur, PGV and Maxitravel. The company has expanded its domestic routes and renovated its fleet with new models, such as Airbus A320 and A319, as well as Embraer 170 and 190, with this new fleet TAME covers various routes in Ecuador and at a international level, the airline offers scheduled flights as well as charter flights.

Contents 1 History 2 First flights 3 Logo 4 Fleet History 5 Destinations 6 Fleet 7 Incidents and accidents 8 Products 9 CrediTame 10 VIP Members 11 References 12 External links

History

The creation of TAME is the result of a clever fusion between the need for the Ecuadorian Air Force to finance itself and the decision to offer transport service to the most remote regions of the country. There was a pressing need to achieve a high standard in the training skills of the Air Force pilots, which also meant great expenses in the training. Another important reason was that national integration was absolutely essential, especially in the most remote regions of the country, where the communication channels were minimal or nonexistent. Therefore, these factors inspired Colonel Luis A. Ortega to propose the creation of an Ecuadorian Air Force Airline. The dissertation he wrote in order to obtain his promotion to Mayor included the organizational outline, operation costs, routes and the objectives of the airline. The Colonel’s proposal had the complete support of the Commanding General of the Ecuadorian Air Force, Colonel Guillermo Freile Posso, who gave the authorization to start the creation of TAME. As Colonel Ortega recalls “Our goals have always been ambitious, we want to work with energy and dedication in order to place TAME as the most important airline in Ecuador.” Gradually, TAME grew both in infrastructure and clients. The resources obtained from the most profitable routes were invested in the improvement of the fleet, facilities and other necessary elements needed in order to have an adequate operation of the airline.^[1]

First flights

The memories of that first flight in December, 1962 are still present in the minds of those who have closely followed TAME’s trajectory, the commercial airline that in its 46 years has become the most prestigious representative of airfreight of Ecuador at an international standard. The first flight was directed by Teodoro Malo, the route was Quito-Esmeraldas-Bahía-Manta- Guayaquil-Cuenca-Quito. When the retired General Jose Montesinos talks about TAME’s first years, he remembers with nostalgia how “In 1960, we held the rank of Major, we were pilots of the Dakota C-47 plane, it had lateral seats and the noncommissioned officers worked as flight attendants.” On December 4, 1962; Majors Luis A. Ortega, Hector Granja, Eduardo Sandoval, Alfredo Barreiro, Oswaldo Lara, Julio Espinosa, Teodoro Malo and Jose Montesinos were young pilots at the Ecuadorian Air Force when they flew TAME’s inauguration flights. It seems quite surreal now to remember that the first reception lounge was made up of furniture which belonged to the Casino of the Officers of the 1st air area. Likewise, the uncomfortable seats of the Dakota C-47 had to be adapted in order to provide comfort to the passengers. These limited beginnings in the infrastructure, now create a great contrast with the progress TAME has made throughout the years. Now TAME is a modern airline, it offers a good service and has a complete and efficient fleet.

TAME has consolidated its service and image throughout the years. TAME replaced the DC-3 and DC-6 planes and later on the Avro and Electra planes. At the beginning, passengers’ attention was precarious, the airline could not print tickets and the Ecuadorian Air Force Paymaster only gave a receipt at the moment of boarding the plane. There has been so many changes in the last 46 years; nowadays, TAME is the pioneering airline in matters of pre-check in, thus, relieving the passengers from waiting in the endless lines that are formed in front of the counters.

Logo

TAME’s colors are blue, light blue and gold, which is a decorative element. The former logo symbolized the flight of a bird, it had a sun as its background and the design used to be located in the planes’ tail. The logo was created by Luis A. Ortega, who created and developed the logo at the beginning of TAME’s life. Over a year ago, TAME decided to renovate its image, it was due to this reason that TAME decided to undergo an extension branding program with the help of the advertising companies LAFACULTAD and ALMA. This program integrates all the processes for the projection of the brand, from the smallest details, such as stickers, to the implementation of the logo in the planes such renovation will be implemented gradually. The renovation of the graphic design was in charge of the advertising agency “La Facultad”. The agency was able to conceptualize the new emblem; it is the representation of a bird in an ascending flight. A new light blue color replaced the formerly used dark blue, thus, symbolizing the renovation of the airline’s fleet.

Fleet History

TAME is the perfect image of a successful company, which is visible in its infrastructure growth. During its early beginnings, they conducted domestic air flights with C-47 planes. Over the next couple of years, D-3 and D-6 planes were incorporated, and then in 1970, two HS-748 Avro were acquired.

TAME, given the growing demand for its service, found itself in the situation where they had to buy 4 Lockheed L 188 Electra Jet Prop, a four-engine plane. These planes allowed TAME to take a great leap forward in its development and thus, being able to direct the necessary financial resources in order to capitalize its progress in the future. The L-188 Electra had previously been owned by Ecuatoriana de Aviación, the now non-existing Ecuadorian airline. By the end of the 70s and beginnings of the 80s, TAME added to its fleet 3 Boeing 727-100. During mid-80s and up until 1992, Tame was able to acquire 4 Boeing 727-200 through a strategic internal expansion and service.

In 1986, TAME added to its fleet 3 Fokker F28 Fellowship 4000.

Once TAME had these planes in its fleet, plus all the experience the pilots and crew were able to obtain from the charter flights they offered to various cities around the world, TAME started to take a peek into the International air service. In December 1998, TAME, in an unimaginable effort, gave a great leap forward in matters of quality and quantity proportions, through the rental of the Boeing 757-200. This new equipment allowed TAME to confront the following years of constant demand with innovative systems. TAME, Ecuador’s airline started a renovation process of its fleet in 2000.

The first step taken towards this goal was in the incorporation of two Airbus A320 planes that TAME rented for a five-year period. These planes were delivered at the European Corporation Assemble factory, in Toulouse, they are the manufacturers of these modern planes. The main roof these planes are: Quito, Guayaquil and Galapagos, starting September 24, 2003. At the same time these planes were acquired, TAME started the gradual withdrawal of the Boeing 727-100 and 200, given that these planes had already worked their productive lives. Finally, after a long process that took 35 months, TAME has completed 75% of the renovation process of its fleet. This process took such an extensive period of time due to the fact that there were 10 months where the company studied, analyzed and compared various types of planes that would meet all the requirements needed to fly through the difficult routes that the company offers. These studies lead to the decision of the Board of Directors to acquire Embraer’s 170/190 planes. This decision implied a letter of intent of purchase of 2 models of the 170 series and 1 of the 190 series, while at the same time keeping open the possibility to acquire 4 more planes of the 190 series, all of these from the Brazilian manufacturer. The following two years were the time needed in order to carry out all the legal dispositions applicable to the state-owned airline. TAME now has 9 brand new planes: 3 Airbus A 320-233Y and 1 Airbus A 319. In March 2006, the first 2 Embraer ERJ-170 arrived, then in June 2006, the first Embraer ERJ-190. Later that year, on December 2007, two more models of the ERJ-190 arrived to the country.. In 2008, 3 A320 were returned to the lesser due to the increase of the lease of the planes. In replacement for these planes, TAME received two Airbus A320. On August 25, 2008, one Airbus A319 was incorporated into the fleet, which increased the TAME’s fleet capacity. Two months later, TAME received an Airbus A320, which replaced one of the original A320. On august 25, 2009; TAME received a brand new Airbus A320, with this plane; TAME finished its fleet renovation process. This plane came with TAME’s new colors and logo, this is proof of TAME’s image of modernization.

In the present, TAME is conformed of the following planes:

• 3 Airbus A320-233 o HC-CGW Ciudad de Quito (2 classes: Business (12) y Coach (138)) o HC-CGJ Ciudad de Guayaquil (150 passengers / One Class) o HC-CID (162 passengers / One Class) • 1 Airbus A319 (135 passengers / 2 classes: Business and Coach) o HC-CGT Ciudad de Esmeraldas • 3 Embraer ERJ-190 (104 passengers / One Class) o HC-CEZ Ciudad de Cuenca o HC-CGF Ciudad de Loja o HC-CGG Ciudad de Manta • 2 Embraer ERJ-170 (76 passengers / One Class) o HC-CEY Puerto Baquerizo Moreno o HC-CEX Francisco de Orellana

Destinations

TAME currently serves 13 cities in Ecuador, two cities (Cali), (San Andres) in Colombia, three cities (Rio de Janeiro), (Manaus) and (São Paulo) in Brazil and one city (Punta Cana) in The Dominican Republic.^[2] All destinations are served from the main hub in Quito (UIO) and the secondary hub in Guayaquil (GYE), except the flight to Cali which stops at Tulcan.

Domestic

• Baltra
• Coca
• Cuenca
• Esmeraldas
• Guayaquil Hub
• Lago Agrio
• Loja
• Macas
• Machala
• Manta
• Portoviejo
• Quito Hub
• San Cristóbal Island
• Galapagos Islands Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara
• Tulcan

International

•  Colombia
  • Cartagena de Indias [charter]
  • San Andrés [charter]
•  Cuba
  • Havana [charter]
  • Varadero [charter]
•  Dominican Republic
  • Punta Cana[charter]
•  Panama
  • Panama city [charter]

Past

• Bogota
• Manaus
• Santiago de Chile

TAME, the Ecuadorian Airline started its regular international flights on April 30, 1966 by flying to the following destinations: Havana, Panama and Santiago de Chile. In 1997, TAME transported passengers to Los Angeles, Taipei and Hong Kong through Panama, these flights were possible due to an agreement signed between TAME and EVA AIR from Taiwan. In 1995, TAME flew connecting flights: Quito-Bogotá-Quito, 3 days a week, for Air France passengers. On December 1992, the governments of Ecuador and Colombia signed the Frontier Integration Agreement and they established the following route: Quito-Esmeraldas (Tachina)-Cali-Esmeraldas (Tachina)-Quito. This route was important because it meant a great leap in the route expansion.

Fleet

TAME has a quite an extensive space in the International Airport “Mariscal Sucre” in order to provide maintenance for its planes. This space is especially designed for planes that require routine inspections or have mechanical or electronic problems, plane that may require engineer repairs, internal modifications, motor change, etc.

The fleet renewal was an important step at improving the safety record of the airline. It was determined that the aging Boeing 727 jets ^[3]. were best replaced by the Airbus A320 family, and the Fokker F28 aircraft by Embraer E-170 and E-190 jets. On June 30, 2009, HC-BZS operated its last revenue flight between Guayaquil and Quito, ending the era of the Boeing 727[3]. The replacement, Airbus A320 HC-CID began operations on August 27, 2009 ^[4], as a consequence TAME now operates a fleet of 4 A320 family and 5 Embraer jets.

Current TAME Fleet (December 2007) ^[5]

Type	Registration	Serial	Seats	Year Built	With TAME Since	Name
Airbus A320-232	HC-CID	934		1999	25.08.2009	Ciudad de Quito
Airbus A320-232	HC-CGW	2084	Y180	2003	2008	Ciudad de Quito
Airbus A320-214	HC-CGJ	657	Y180	1997	2008	Ciudad de Guayaquil
Airbus A319-132	HC-CGT	2659	Y135	2006	2008	Ciudad de Esmeraldas
Embraer E-190-100LR	HC-CEZ	19000027	Y104	2006	Jun 10 2006	Ciudad de Cuenca
Embraer E-190-100LR	HC-CGF	19000137	Y104	2007	Dec 18, 2007	Ciudad de Loja
Embraer E-190-100LR	HC-CGG	19000141	Y104	2007	Dec 18, 2007	Ciudad de Manta
Embraer E-170-100LR	HC-CEX	17000087	Y76	2006	2006	Francisco de Orellana
Embraer E-170-100LR	HC-CEY	17000092	Y76	2006	2006	Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
Embraer 120	HC-CEM	120227	Y32	1991	2007	(none)
Embraer 120	HC-CDM	120088	Y32	1988	2007	Ciudad de Machala

Aircraft previously with TAME (most recent sorted first)

Type	Registration	Code	Serial	Seats	Year Built	With TAME	Remarks
Boeing 727-2T3/Adv	HC-BHM "Cotopaxi"	FAE-078	22078/1644	Y155	1980	1980-2009
Boeing 727-230/Adv	HC-BZS "Imbabura"	FAE-620	21620/1419	Y155	1978	1999-2009
Airbus A320	HC-CDY "Ciudad de Quito"	(none)	2014	Y162	2003	2003-2008	Now with TAM Airlines as PR-MBT
Airbus A320	HC-CDZ "Ciudad de Guayaquil"	(none)	2044	Y162	2003	2003-2008	Now with TAM Airlines as PR-MBL
Fokker F-28-4000	HC-BZU "Morona Santiago"	FAE-112	11112	Y82	1976	1999-2007	Replaced by an ERJ-190
Fokker F-28-4000	HC-CEH "Ciudad de Loja"	FAE-228	11228	Y70	1985	2004-2007	Replaced by an ERJ-190
Boeing 727-134	HC-BLE "Manabi"	FAE-691	19691/487	Y123	1967	1984-?	Now with the Ecuador Air Force
Boeing 727-134	HC-BLF "El Oro"	FAE-692	19692/498	?	1967	?-2002	Crashed Jan 28, 2002 at Cumbal Volcano in Colombia. 92/92 fatalities.[6]
Boeing 727-17	HC-BLV "Azuay"	FAE-328	20328/806	?	1970	1985-?	Parked at Latacunga (SELT)
Boeing 727-230/Adv	HC-BSC "Galapagos"	FAE-788	20788/1011	?	1974	1993-?	Parked
Boeing 727-230/Adv	HC-BRI "Guayas"	FAE-560	20560/887	?	1972	1991-?	Parked at Latacunga (SELT)
Boeing 727-230/Adv	HC-BZR "Esmeraldas"	FAE-618	21618/1404	?	1978	1999-?	Parked at Latacunga (SELT)
Boeing 727-230/Adv	HC-BSU "Pichincha"	FAE-622	21622/1431	?	1979	1993-1998	Crashed Apr 20, 1998 near Bogota (CFIT). 53/53 Fatalities.[7]
Boeing 757-23A	XA-RLM	(none)	24566/255	?	?	1999	Leased in from TAESA for a few months in 1999; wore full TAME colors.
Boeing 737-2V2	HC-BIG "Ciudad de Cuenca"	FAE-607	22607/775	?	1981	1981-1983	Crashed Jul 11, 1983 near Cuenca. 119/119 Fatalities.[8]
Fokker F-28-4000	HC-BMD "Ciudad de Loja"	FAE-220	11220	?	1984	1985-2003	Written off after overrunning runway at UIO on Jan 17, 2003. No Fatalities. [9] Replaced by HC-CEH in 2004, also named Loja. Previously involved in another runway overrun incident in 2001.[10]
Hawker Siddeley HS-748-285	HC-BAZ (name?)	FAE-738	1738	?	1975	?-1987	Written off after overrunning runway at Lago Agrio on Jun 23, 1987. No Fatalities.[11] Preserved at the Air Force museum at UIO.
Lockheed L-188C Electra	HC-AZL "Guayas"	FAE-1050	1050	?	?	1974-?	Previously N278AC
Lockheed L-188C Electra	HC-AZT "Azuay"	FAE-1040	1040	?	?	1975-?	Previously N9701C
Lockheed L-188C Electra	HC-AZJ "Pichincha"	FAE-2004	2004	?	1959	1975-1989	Written off after a gear-up landing at Taura AFB on Sep 04, 1989. No Fatalities.[12]
Lockheed L-188C Electra	HC-AZY "Galapagos"	FAE-1052	1052	?	1959	1975-1988	Crashed near Lago Agrio on Sep 12, 1988. 7/7 Fatalities.[13]
Douglas DC-6B	HC-AVH (name?)	FAE44691	44691/552	?	1953	?-?	Preserved at the Quito Air Base

Incidents and accidents

On July 11th, 1983, minutes before landing at the Mariscal Lamar Airport in Cuenca, the Boeing 737-200, HC-BIG, crashed. This was the worst airplane accident in the history of TAME. There were 119 fatalities, plus the flight crew. The final report indicated that this accident occurred due to the lack of experience from part of the crew in this type of airplane. On April 20th, 1988, the 422 flight, a Boeing 727-200, HC-BSU, with an itinerary flight, Bogotá-Quito (rented by Air France, in order to transport its passengers coming from Paris) crashed against the hill “El Cable”, minutes after take-off from the International Airport “El Dorado”, 51 passengers and 10 crew members died . The cause of the accident was bad weather and human error, given that the crew did not do the tacking maneuver immediately after take-off, the usual maneuver found in the exit procedure instruction booklet, instead they continued in a straight line, up until they crashed against Cerro “El Cable”, East of Bogotá. On January 28th, 2002, a Boeing 727-100, HC-BLF, took off at the Mariscal Sucre Airport and was going to Tulcan and later on to Cali, minutes before landing in Tulcan, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. The plane collided against the hill “El Cumbal”, all its passengers died during the impact. Once again, this accident was caused by human error, because the captain gave a turn at a speed that was too fast for that type of maneuver, thus, crashing against the hill. On January 17th, 2003, a Fokker F28 goes off the runway of the International Airport Mariscal Sucre. There were no fatalities in this accident.

Products

Fly Card- this type of product that TAME offers are “pre-paid Trips.” The card-owner of Fly Card has access to the following benefits: Lower Fares, purchases can be done online, 365 days, 24 hours a day, from any part of the world, the person can acquire tickets to any of the destinations that TAME offers, every 3000 dollars spent in tickets, you get 1 free, and virtual technical assistance.

CrediTame

It is a sort of credit that TAME grants to companies, whether they are of a public or private domain, this credit allows the companies to buy airplane tickets and national load shipment. For more information, go to www.tame.com.ec

VIP Members

TAME offers VIP service to businessmen who need to make various trips during the year. For more information, go to www.tame.com.ec

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (December 2009)

External links

• TAME
• TAME (Spanish)
• TAME Fleet
• History of TAME's Electras
• History of TAME's Color Schemes

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