JACKSON FLORES / RIO DE JANEIRO
Chilean new entrant Transportes A‚reos Ejecutivos (TAE) has launched operations with two Fairchild-Swearingen Metro III/23 turboprops. The company was set up by Chilean real estate firm Inmobiliaria Buccioni in association with Argentine regional carrier Servicios Aéreos Patagónicos.
The airline's services are aimed at satisfying a long-standing requirement to link major cities in Chile's northern region. Chief executive René Cardemil says TAE will cater primarily for the needs of local mining concerns and tap the burgeoning air transport market generated by Chilean and Peruvian free trade zones in Iquique and Tacna, respectively.
Iquique-based TAE's domestic route network will initially include Antofagasta, Calama and Copiapó. The carrier will also offer cross-border flights, linking Iquique to Tacna, in southern Peru. By January, TAE expects to include Arica in its Chilean network, along with three other international destinations - the Peruvian capital Lima, Santa Cruz in Bolivia and Salta in Argentina. The addition of these destinations will depend on the acquisition of two more aircraft, which industry sources say will be leased Boeing 737-200s.
Source: Flight International
