West Caribbean

West Caribbean Airways S.A. (WCA) was an airline with its headquarters in Hangar 73 on the grounds of Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellín, Colombia. Because of financial problems following two crashes in 2005 (see below) it ceased operations that September.

History
West Caribbean Airways was founded on December 29, 1998. West Caribbean Airways was founded by Colombian entrepreneur Hassan Tannir and started operations in 2000 based in San Andrés Island. A group of Medellín-based investors acquired the airline in 2001 and moved the headquarters to Medellín.

Incidents and accidents

 * 26 March 2005. A West Caribbean Airways Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft registration HK-4146, on departure from El Embrujo, Isla de Providencia failed to climb and hit hills close to the runway, killing the two crew and six of the twelve passengers. Initial reports suggested a technical fault.


 * 16 August 2005. West Caribbean Airways Flight 708, a chartered West Caribbean Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft heading from Panama to Martinique in the Caribbean, crashed in remote western Venezuela, killing all 160 aboard, mostly French nationals.

Services
West Caribbean Airways operated the following services (at January 2005):


 * Domestic scheduled destinations: Armenia, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cali, Cartagena, Caucasia, Chigorodó, Cúcuta, El Bagre, Medellín, Montería, Otu, Providencia, Puerto Berrío, Quibdó, San Andrés, Tolú and Turbo.


 * International scheduled destinations: Oranjestad, Panama City, San José and Porlamar.

Fleet
The West Caribbean Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at January 2005):


 * 1 ATR 42-300
 * 3 ATR 42-320
 * 1 McDonnell Douglas MD-81
 * 3 McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (one crashed in Venezuela)
 * 8 Let L-410 UVP-E (one crashed in Colombia)