R 092153Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9641
INFO AMEMBASSY QUITO 
AMEMBASSY CARACAS 
AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 
AMEMBASSY LIMA 
AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 
AMEMBASSY PANAMA 
AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO

id: 182088
date: 12/9/2008 21:53
refid: 08GUAYAQUIL296
origin: Consulate Guayaquil
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 
header:
R 092153Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9641
INFO AMEMBASSY QUITO 
AMEMBASSY CARACAS 
AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 
AMEMBASSY LIMA 
AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 
AMEMBASSY PANAMA 
AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 


----------------- header ends ----------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUAYAQUIL 000296 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2018 
TAGS: CO EC PA PGOV PREL
SUBJECT: ECUADORIAN AIRLINE AEROGAL CONTINUES EXPANSION 
WITH FLIGHTS TO U.S. 
 
Classified By: Consul General Douglas Griffiths for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
 (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.   Ecuador's fast-growing privately-held 
airline, Aerogal, began direct flights to Miami on December 
¶7.  In little over a decade, Aerogal has leapfrogged other 
domestic carriers to become Ecuador's second largest carrier. 
  However, the Government of Ecuador has taken aim at 
Aerogal's aging fleet of Boeing 727's and 737's, decreeing 
that all airlines must update their fleets to more fuel 
efficient aircraft if they want to continue to benefit from 
the generous fuel subsidies.  Aerogal is also fighting the 
request of LAN Chile's Ecuadorian subsidiary to operate 
domestic flights in Ecuador.  Aerogal's next round of 
expansion will be driven by its alliance with the Columbian 
industrial group Sinergy, a major investor in Avianca 
Airlines.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Established in 1986, Aerogal operates regularly 
scheduled passenger and cargo flights within Ecuador, between 
the mainland and the Galapagos Islands, and between Ecuador 
to Colombia.  With a strong balance sheet, Aerogal has 
aggressive expansion plans, including Miami, New York, Peru 
and Panama.  The company began service  to Miami with much 
fanfare in December 2007, but quickly had to suspend 
operations when it encountered difficulties leasing airplanes 
for the flights.  Aerogal, moves more than 500 million 
passengers each year and  is based in Quito, with its hub in 
Guayaquil's international airport.  Gabriela Sommerfield, a 
native of Guayaquil, is its executive president and her 
father, Patricio Sommerfield, is its largest shareholder. 
Aerogal has become the second largest domestic carrier in 
Ecuador, behind  TAME, a carrier owned by the Ecuadorian Air 
Force.  TAME's revenues reached   77.6 million dollars in 
2007, vice Aerogal's revenue of 44.5 million dollars. 
Sommerfield told us that Aerogal is forging an alliance with 
Sinergy, a Colombian-based company with interests in Avianca 
Airlines.  As part of the alliance, Aerogal might jettison 
its traditional partnership with Boeing and renew its fleet 
with Airbus planes.  TAME has recently renovated its fleet 
with Embraer aircraft. 
 
¶3. (C) Aerogal's profitability has been driven by government 
fuel subsidies for an aging fleet that it has assembled on 
the cheap.  However, in October, the GOE ruled that airlines 
that fail to replace their aircraft with more fuel efficient 
aircraft by April 2009 would lose 20% of the fuel subsidy. 
In explaining the decree to thepublic, President Correa said 
that, "A company like Aerogal consumes the same amount of 
fuel with a fleet that is worth 12 million than Tame that has 
a greater fleet of 180 million."  Under Secretary of Air 
Transport and Airports, Guillermo Bernal, stated that Aerogal 
must modernize eight airplanes in its fleet:  six of them 
Boeing 737s that began operation between 1979 and 1984 and 
two Boeing 727s from 1979 and 1982.  Sommerfield told us 
recently that the National Financial Corporation (CFN) was 
offering very intresting terms to renew the fleets.  While 
negotiations were still on-going, Sommerfield said that the 
CFN was offering 5 percent interest over 20 years with a 
two-year grace period. 
 
¶4. (C) Sommerfield is also currently the president of the 
airline business grouping, the Asociacion de Empresas 
Nacionales de Aviacion (ADENA).  In this role she has 
spearheaded opposition to LAN Chile's request to allow its 
local subsidiary to operate domestic flights in Ecuador.   On 
November 25, Sommerfield again asked Ecuadorian Civil 
Aviation authorities to carefully review LAN's plans to enter 
the Ecuadorian market, "We do not oppose competition, we 
welcome competitors(but we are concerned about (LAN's) 
predatory practices, that is to say, the objective of 
destroying national business, which has happened in Peruvian 
and Argentinean markets."  In private discussions with us, 
she insisted that LAN Chile has systematically destroyed 
domestic airlines in other markets.  She also asserted that 
LAN's business practices included inappropriate contacts with 
civil aviation authorities. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Bio Note:  Gabriela Sommerfield is one of the most 
prominent and most admired business women in Ecuador.  She 
also has strong ties to the United States.  Her father and 
brother live in Miami, and she has two sisters in Atlanta. 
In December Sommerfield will marry Alfonso Gomez Lugo, the 
son of Columbia's ex-Attorney General Gomez Mendez and 
Liberal pre-candidate for president.  Sommerfield recently 
met Gomez Lugo, when he represented Sinergy in meetings to 
discuss possible mergers with Aerogal.  Sommerfield told us 
that she would commute between Bogota, Quito and Guayaquil. 
End note. 
 
 
GRIFFITHS 

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