Abandoned At The Airport: Spantax's Lost Convair 990 'Coronado'

Summary Spantax operated Convair 990s and one is preserved at Palma de Mallorca Airport, attracting aviation enthusiasts. The Convair 990 was not widely popular but could transport 149 passengers at high speeds. Spantax's purchase of 14 Convair 990s led to financial struggles that eventually led to the airline's collapse.

Visitors to Palma de Mallorca Airport on the Spanish Mediterranean island of Mallorca and see a rare surviving Convair 990. Long before the passenger jet aviation industry was dominated by just Boeing and Airbus, other companies like Douglas, Fokker, Convair, and others built jet airliners. Convair's 880 and 990 were General Dynamics' answers to the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8.

Convair's adventure into building jetliners was a disaster for the company, and afterward, General Dynamics (the parent company) gave up building aircraft. Spantax Convair CV-990A - EC-BZO Spantax was a Spanish airline that operated between 1959 and 1988. It was one of the first Spanish airlines to focus on international tourist charter flights to popular Spanish holiday destinations (e.

g., Palma on Spain's Balearic Islands). The airline is regarded as one of the early drivers of developing 20th-century mass tourism in Spain.

Among other aircraft, Spantax operated 14 Convair 990s (of which two were written off after crashes). Today, one of the defunct Spanish carrier's Coronado jets, registration EC-BZO, is still parked at the Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI), a treat for aviation .