UPDATE 1-Colombia's Avianca, El Salvador's TACA to merge | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
Avianca owners to control two thirds of new company
* Combined revenues of around $3 billion (Adds detail on deal, CEO comments, background, byline)
By Nelson Rentaria
SAN SALVADOR, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Colombian airline Avianca and El Salvador-based TACA plan to merge their operations under a single holding company, bolstering their weight in Latin America, TACA Chief Executive Roberto Kriete said on Wednesday.
Avianca shareholders will control two thirds of the new company, with the other third in the hands of TACA owners, and the two airline brands will remain separate, Kriete said.
Both airlines are privately held. Together they would have 129 planes and more than 100 destinations in the Americas and Europe, Avianca CEO Fabio Villegas told a news conference with Kriete and other executives.
Kriete said the combined operation would have annual revenues of some $3 billion.
Avianca is controlled by Colombian-Brazilian businessman German Efromovich.
Transportes Aereos Centroamericanos (TACA), which flies to 22 countries in the Americas and nine cities in the United States, was founded in 1931 as a one-airplane operation with a contract to the Honduran government.
Owned by the Kriete family since 1961, it began forging alliances with other Central American carriers in the 1980s, including Guatemala's Aviateca and Costa Rica's Lacsa. (Reporting by Nelson Rentaria; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)