After months of waiting, TAME Airlines is scheduled to begin service to New York next week. The much anticipated service will connect John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) with Guayaquil, Ecuador (GYE). This new service begins on November 22nd and will operate 6 times a week using Airbus A330-200 aircraft. From Guayaquil, Tame offers connections to destinations both within Ecuador and around Latin America using their fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft. The airline’s operations at JFK will take place from Terminal 1.
Launched in 1962, TAME was for many years owned and operated by the Ecuadorean Air Force. The flag carrier of Ecuador, its name is an acronym (Transportes Aereos Militares Ecuatorianos) that reflects this military-rooted history. The airline was born out of a national interest to connect even the most remote areas of the small South American nation, at a time when even the simplest forms of communication were hard to come by. In 2011, the airline’s ownership moved away from the military, though it is still wholly-owned by the government of Ecuador.
Up until now, the airline’s operations have been solely focused on domestic Ecuador flights as well as short-haul international flights within South and Central American and the Caribbean. Those routes have been flown by a fleet of narrowbody mainline and large regional jets. This fleet consists of Embraer E170s and E190s alongside Airbus A319s and A320s. This new service to New York marks the carrier’s entry into the medium haul, widebody international market and also the addition of the Airbus A330-200 into the airline’s fleet. Originally a member of Emirates fleet, the aircraft being used for flights to and from New York will have a mix of 27 business class seats and 251 economy seats. This new service on TAME joins existing GYE-JFK service provided by LAN Ecuador.
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