BY THE MID-1980s, the situation of charter aviation in Spain was not buoyant. Spantax (BX) was on life support and Aviaco (AO) was tumbling due to the erratic policies of the National Institute of Industry (INI). Doing better was Hispania(HI/XF), a relative newcomer born from the ashes of TAE (JK), which had gone bankrupt in 1981. These three airlines were serving only between 15% and 20% of the tourist flights to Spain. Facing this situation, and thanks to the country's entry into the European Union, the government decided to stimulate the non-scheduled air transport industry by encouraging cooperation between Spanish and foreign investors in a 75%-25% ratio, respectively. The new policies worked. In just three years, 11 new airlines took to the air. Canafrica (KG), a Spanish cargo airline established in 1984, soon changed its business model to focus on charter operations. In April 1987, the airline took delivery of a McDonnell Douglas MD-80-the first of the type ever operated by a Spanish airline. KG essentially worked for Andalusair, a Malaga-based air broker that flew from Southern Spain to Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
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