The Airline: Aero California

Aero California was a low-cost airline with its headquarters in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, operating a network of domestic passenger flights with its hub at the city's Manuel Márquez de León International Airport.


The airline was founded in La Paz, Mexico in 1960 as an air taxi operator using a fleet of Cessna and Beechcraft airplanes, initially known as Servicios Aéreos. By the early 1980s the demand for domestic charter flights had grown to an extent, that allowed for the larger Douglas DC-3 to be added to the fleet. Scheduled services were launched on June 1982, the first flight being between La Paz, Tijuana and Hermosillo using Convair 340 aircraft. In 1989, international scheduled flights were commenced, with Los Angeles being the first destination. By 1995 the fleet had been upgraded to feature only jet aircraft of various Douglas DC-9 subtypes.
On 3 April 2006 all operations of Aero California were suspended by the Mexican federal Secretariat of Communications and Transport, after the civil aviation authorities had found that the airline was not complying with its safety standards. It was given 90 days to correct the problems and was able to resume services on 11 August of that year 2006. On 23 July 2008 (at a time when the route network consisted 17 domestic destinations), the airline was again suspended, this time due to an alleged debt with the Mexican Air Traffic Control (SENEAM), which prompted a a labor strike of the employees on 5 August, which technically continues to present day. Aero California never operated any flights again, even though its license remains valid.