LADE

For other uses, see Lade.

Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE, English: State Air Lines) is an airline based in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. It is owned by the government of Argentina and operated by the Argentine Air Force. It provides domestic scheduled services, mainly in Patagonia.

LADE

IATA ICAO Call sign 5U LDE LADE
Founded	September 1940 (1940-09)
Fleet size	4
Destinations	30
Headquarters	El Palomar, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Website	lade.faa.mil.ar

History

The airline was established as an arm of the Argentine Air Force in September 1940 (1940-09) to service unprofitable routes to remote areas.^[1] It was initially known as Líneas Aéreas Suroeste and consolidated under the present title in 1945 with another air force branch, Líneas Aéreas Noreste.^[2] By April 1960 (1960-04), DC-3s, DC-4s and Vikings made up LADE's fleet.^[1]

An Argentine Air Force Fokker F27. As of May 2013^[update] LADE did not have aircraft of its own; all the equipment was provided by the Argentine Air Force.^[3]

At March 1970, LADE had 150 employees and its fleet consisted of 14 DC-3s, two DC-4s, three DC-6s and six de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters.^[4] The carrier started regular flights between Comodoro Rivadavia and the Falkland Islands in 1972.^[5][6] The Comodoro Rivadavia–Port Stanley run was initially operated with F27 equipment. The limited length of the runway at Port Stanley Airport resulted in weight regulations to the aircraft operating the route, which restricted the number of carried passengers to a maximum of 22 per flight, along with a reduced volume of mail and freight.^[7] The service was discontinued in 1982,^[5] following the Falklands War.^[8][9]

At July 1980 (1980-07), the airline had a fleet of 11 F27s (five F27-600s and six F27-400Ms) five Fokker F28-1000Cs and seven Twin Otters.^[6] Ten years later, at March 1990 (1990-03), the fleet had grown to include five Fokker F28-1000Cs, 13 F27s (six F27-400Ms, two F27-500s and five F27-600s), one Lockheed L-100-30 and seven Twin Otters.^[10] At March 2004,^[update] LADE served a comprehensive domestic network that included scheduled services to Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia, El Calafate, El Palomar, Gobernador Gregores, Lago Argentino, Mar del Plata, Miramar, Neuquén, Paraná, Puerto Madryn, Río Gallegos, Río Grande, San Antonio Oeste, San Carlos de Bariloche, San Martín de los Andes, Trelew, Ushuaia and Viedma. The fleet at this time consisted of Twin Otters, Fokker F27s, Fokker F28s and one Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules.^[11] From December 2008 four Saab 340s replaced four Fokker F27s at a cost of US$34 million.^[12][13]

Destinations

Branch office in Trelew

LADE operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations (at June 2019):^[14]

• Comodoro Rivadavia (General Enrique Mosconi International Airport)
• El Calafate (Comandante Armando Tola International Airport)
• Río Gallegos (Piloto Civil N. Fernández International Airport)
• Río Grande (Hermes Quijada International Airport)
• Ushuaia (Malvinas Argentinas International Airport)

Fleet

Saab 340

Fokker F28

The LADE - Líneas Aéreas del Estado fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of April 2021^[update])

• 4 Saab 340B
• 1 Fokker F28
• 1 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
• 1 Boeing 737-700

Those aircraft are for regular flights.

The air force cargo fleet is leased by LADE, consisting of:

• 2 Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules
• 1 Lockheed Martin KC-130H Hercules

Two surviving Lockheed Martin C-130B Hercules were retired by the air force in 2011, while the sole Lockheed Martin L-100-30 Hercules has been inoperative since early 2010.

There is a Presidential Fleet which is normally not assigned to LADE:

• 1 Boeing 757-200, callsign Tango 01
• 1 Fokker F28 Mk4000, callsign Tango 02
• 1 Fokker F28 Mk1000, callsign Tango 03

The rest of the fleet is inoperative:

• 2 Boeing 707-320B
• 7 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 200
• 2 Fokker F28 Mk1000

As of June 2012^[update] nearly all flights were operated by Saab 340 aircraft, with the Fokker F28 fleet flying exclusively for the air force. Fokker F27s were withdrawn from the LADE schedules in April 2009, although they have since been known to operate LADE flights now and again.^{[citation needed]}

Accidents and incidents

Date	Location	Aircraft	Tail number	Aircraft damage	Fatalities	Description	Refs
16 June 1995	Jeremie	F27-400M	TC-73	W/O	0	Collapse of left main landing gear on touchdown at Jeremie Airport. The aircraft ran off the runway and crashed into a building.	[15]
8 November 1995	Villa Dolores	F27-400M	TC-72	W/O	53/53	Crashed into mountainous terrain in bad weather while flying the last leg of a domestic non-scheduled Comodoro Rivadavia–Villa Reynolds–Córdoba.	[16]

See also

• List of airlines of Argentina
• Transport in Argentina