Airline merger.

In a deal worth US$3 billion in combined annual sales, El Salvador-based TACA and Colombia's Avianca said they will join operations to cut costs and bolster their clout in the region, reports Reuters (Oct 8, 2009). Avianca's shareholders will control two thirds of the new company, with the rest in the hands of TACA owners, said TACA CEO Roberto Krieter. Privately held Avianca and TACA will remain separate brands for now, but together they would have 129 planes and more than 100 destinations in the Americas and Europe, said Avianca CEO Fabio Villegas. TACA, which flies to 22 countries in the Americas and nine cities in the US, was founded in 1931 as a one-airplane operation with a contract to the Honduran government.