On April 20, 1998, at about 1600 local Bogota time, a TAME Airlines Boeing 727-200, enroute from Bogota, Colombia, to Quito, Ecuador, crashed into a hillside shortly after takeoff from Bogota. Weather at the time is unknown. The airplane was on an IFR flight plan. The 9 crewmembers and 43 passengers perished. The government of Colombia is investigating the accident. TAME, Ecuador's Airline, was founded in 1962 in order to attend the transport demand from the large cities to the farther populated places where exclusively commercial airlines did not flew. The objective that motivated its creation is linked to the need to integrate Ecuador and motivate the commercial, social, touristical, and cultural development.

Initially, TAME covered the routes with C-47 airplanes of the Ecuadorian Air force, FAE, entity that also provided the necessary pilots and the infrastructure. The entrepreneurial growth was progressive and sustained. In this way TAME widened the internal routes and went on changing its flight equipment to the DC-3, DC-6, Electra, Avro, Boeing 727 100 up to Boeing 727 200. With this new fleet TAME covers fourteen different worldwide destinations through charter flights. Since 1992, TAME flies within the Frontier Integration Agreement with four frequencies weekly to Cali, Colombia, from Tulcán and Esmeraldas.