taxiing at
El Dorado International Airport in 2011 The airline was founded on 2 October 1980 as
AIRES, starting operations on 23 February 1981, with a few small planes, until they acquired some
Embraer 110 Bandeirante and
Fairchild F27. In 1990, the airline registered a 9% decrease in passenger transport. With the rise of competition with
AeroRepública in November 1992, AIRES made small expansions, mostly adding service to the neighboring countries of
Venezuela and
Ecuador. In November 1998, the airline began its coverage in the
Caribbean Region, opening a base of operations in
Barranquilla, from where flights began to:
Cartagena,
Santa Marta,
Valledupar,
Corozal among other cities in the north of the country. On 13 December 2000, the airline began its internationalization with the opening of the
Barranquilla-
Oranjestad, Aruba route, flying twice a week, later it began operations to
Willemstad,
Curaçao. In 2004, the company made a corporate image change, as well as a change in the stationery, said the investment had a cost of close to 1,000 million pesos. In 2009, with the beginning of the trunk routes, a new era began and thus rubbed shoulders with
Avianca and
AeroRepública, and this was done by incorporating Jet aircraft and breaking the tariff scheme by becoming a
low-cost airline. On 28 October 2010, it was announced that 98% of the shares in the previous airline AIRES had been acquired by
Chilean carrier
LAN Airlines. On 26 November 2010, LAN Airlines announced that it completed the purchase of 98.9% of AIRES' shares, assuming its total debt and including it in the LAN holding company as a subsidiary of the group. On 3 December 2011, AIRES was renamed and started operations as
LAN Colombia, becoming a member of the aeronautical holding
LATAM Airlines Group. ==Destinations==