La Costeña (airline)

Aerotaxis La Costeña S.A. is a regional airline based in Managua, Nicaragua. It operates passenger services from Managua and Bluefields to 3 domestic destinations. Its main hubs are at Augusto C. Sandino International Airport and Bluefields Airport.^[1]

History

The airline began operations in November 1991. It became part of the Grupo TACA in 1999 as a feeder carrier. By September 2011, it had 140 employees.

On May 31, 2019, Avianca Holdings sold its 62% participation in La Costeña to Regional Airlines Holding LLC, from Delaware, United States.^[2]^[3]

As of April 2024, La Costeña operates limited services to domestic destinations, such as:^[4]

La Costeña fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2023):^[5]

On July 30, 1995, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan (YN-CED) was hijacked by suspected drug traffickers while en route from Managua to Bluefields. On August 1, the body of the pilot was discovered in Zipaquirá, Colombia. He had reportedly been shot twice in the head and once in the back. Nicaraguan authorities suspect that the hijacked aircraft was destined for drug trafficking operations. In August, the plane was found by Colombian police in a hangar at Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport.
On July 20, 1999, the same aircraft (YN-CED) was flying from Managua to Bluefields, but crashed in Cerro Silva, killing both crew members and all 14 passengers. A GPS device had been removed for use in another aircraft before the flight.^[6]

^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 103.
^ "Avianca vende las aerolíneas Sansa y La Costeña de Centroamérica". Reportur.com (in Spanish). Retrieved June 5, 2019.
^ Amalia Barrios. "Avianca venderá 62% de La Costeña". Elnuevodiario.com.ni (in Spanish). Retrieved November 28, 2018.
^ "Destinations - La Costeña". Lacostena.com.ni.
^ "La Costeña - Pilot Career Centre". Pilotcareercentre.com. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
^ Aviation Safety Network

Media related to La Costeña at Wikimedia Commons