The airline was established on 9 May 2000 and started operations on 1 June 2000, operating domestic services with Boeing 737 aircraft. It started up after TAESA closed down and some of the staff and assets were taken over. Under the name Azteca Airlines, the airline was a member of the Airlines Reporting Corporation. Líneas Aéreas Azteca actively sought to expand international routes into the United States. In 2003, Azteca contributed a small amount to traffic through Ontario International Airport, California, constituting ~0.5% of passenger traffic in each of January and October. During the first two months of 2007, the airline transported 113,592 passengers, or 2.3% of total passengers in Mexico.
Operations suspension
Following weeks of speculation about the airlines' financial situation, on 26 March 2007, the Secretariat of Communications and Transport of Mexico issued a 90-day operations-desist claim that immediately halted the airline's operations, in order for it to respond to its financial credit, personnel training, and aircraft maintenance issues. The air operators certificate was suspended for safety reasons. An inspection carried out from 5 to 23 March 2007 brought several deficiencies to light, including some in safety procedures and in the periodic qualification of pilots, ground crew, and maintenance personnel. The airline had 90 days to comply with regulations. Following the suspension of operations, on 27 March 2007 the International Air Transport Association also suspended Líneas Aéreas Azteca from its worldwide Billing and Settlement Plan. The grounding left thousands of passengers with unusable tickets. Azteca was in debt to Mexico City's airport and to its airplane lessor. A lessor temporarily seized one of Azteca's planes in February 2007 in the United States. The suspension of flights was said to affect up to 25,000 tickets. The airline flew to 19 Mexican destinations and Ontario, California, but was apparently authorized to fly 50 routes. Five of the airline's nine aircraft were out of day-to-day service when the suspension was announced. Routes operated by Azteca were covered by 13 other airlines.
End of operations
On 10 October 2007, the General Civil Aeronautics Directorship of Mexico's Communications and Transport Secretariat permanently revoked Líneas Aéreas Azteca's air operator's certificate, because the airline did not have a sound financial statement after the previous suspension.
