18 |
Shelton decided to have APSA acquire that first DC-6 , and then let TAN lease the aircraft on those days in which the interchange was not in operation . This helped improve TAN ’ s competitiveness on flights to Honduras , as Pan American was also now flying DC-6 aircraft . |
||||||||||||
|
PANAGRA , and the CAB were onto TAN ’ s ploy . Shelton decided to redesign the purpose of CEA and have that airline serve its own market between Ecuador and Miami , retaliating against the US carriers by providing customers with an alternative , low-cost option . If Juan Trippe was going to go after TAN , then CN Shelton was going to go after Pan American and PANAGRA ! So , on those days in which the TAN- APSA interchange did not fly out of Miami , the Ecuatoriana-APSA interchange ( twice weekly ) would serve Guayaquil from Miami via Panama City and Cali , Colombia , changing to an APSA flight in Guayaquil for the continued service to Lima and Santiago .
All this was done with the simple aim of extending TAN ’ s service between Miami and points in South America , which would have been impossible to do without detection had the operation been conducted entirely under the TAN Airlines name . Even though Shelton owned three separate airlines , the Honduran carrier was performing all the duties of accounting , ground service , operations , and scheduling for all of them .
|
To better hide TAN ’ s involvement with his other carriers from the CAB , Shelton set up a corporation in the Republic of Panama called Compania de Servicios , SA ( SERVICIOS ) to control the three airlines ’ advertising , operations , sales , and schedules . For all practical purposes , TAN was now an independent airline conforming to the CAB ’ s mandate . |
However , to keep up the facade of operating separate airlines , Shelton went so far as to install a dressing room at the Tegucigalpa airport where Pilots could change uniforms , depending on which flight they were operating . Pilots flying from Miami to Tegucigalpa wore TAN ’ s grey uniform and changed into dark blue uniforms when continuing on the APSA flight to Lima .
Initially it was important to keep TAN as the operator out of Miami as it was still the more recognized name that had built up a reputation for offering competitive airfares between Miami and South America . Over time , APSA ’ s reputation grew and eventually took over TAN as the low fare provider . By July 1958 , the TAN-APSA interchange operation was going so well that
|
17 A TAN C-46 shares the ramp with an APSA DC-6 at Tegucigalpa ’ s Toncontin airport . // CAPT . REED CLARY VIA THE CHRIS SLIMMER COLLECTION
18 Before TAN acquired its own DC-6 aircraft , it would lease APSAs on the days that the interchange was not in operation in order to upgrade TAN ’ s competitive service to Honduras . An APSA DC-6 is seen here at Tegucigalpa ’ s Toncontin Airport operating as a TAN flight . // CAPT . REED CLARY VIA THE CHRIS SLIMMER COLLECTION
|
The TAN-APSA interchange was working just as Shelton had envisioned . TAN was in fact only flying between Miami and Honduras , while APSA flew between Honduras and South America , linking up with Ecuatoriana for an expanded network . The three airlines-inone concept had triumphed . Since 1955 , Shelton ’ s passenger traffic from Miami to Ecuador and Peru had increased 161 %.
As passengers were being directed away from PANAGRA , Juan Trippe — loaded with statistics — filed complaints with the CAB , stating that , through its control of APSA , Shelton ’ s TAN had in fact increased its carriage of South American traffic . Furthermore , its sphere of operation had expanded to points in Argentina and Colombia after the CAB had mandated that TAN should only carry passengers between the US and Central America .
Part Two of the TAN Airlines Story Will Appear in Next Month ’ s Issue of Airways
|