The company was inaugurated on November 11, 1996. The airline offered regular flights between the cities of Cuenca. Macas, Quito and Guayaquil.[3] Austro Aereo had a limited number of planes and had many problems with them. Its only aircraft, a Fairchild FH-227, was grounded because it failed a "major inspection". The repair costs would have been very high, so Austro Aéreo opted not to repair it and instead acquired two new Embraer EMB 120 Brasilias.[4]
The company got into financial difficulties in 2002 and stopped flying to Guayaquil in December of that year. Three million dollars were owed to the sellers of the aircraft, the suppliers of the Pratt & Whitney engines, the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security and the tax authorities. 107 employees lost their jobs and the company was put into liquidation on December 31, 2003.[5]
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