A TAME airline Boeing 737-200 crashes near Cuenca, Ecuador, killing all 119 passengers and crew on board.

TAME or TAME EP Linea Aerea del Ecuador was an airline founded in Ecuador in 1962. TAME was the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ecuador. TAME headquarters were in Quito, Pichincha Province and the main hub was Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito. The airline was formed by the Air Force of Ecuador. In 2011, it became a commercial entity and provided domestic, international and charter flights. On May 20, 2020, the Ecuadorean government decided to cease all operations and liquidate the airline.

The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating but with two underwing Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofan engines. Envisioned in 1964, the initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967 and entered service in February 1968 with Lufthansa. The lengthened 737-200 entered service in April 1968, and evolved through four generations, offering several variants for 85 to 215 passengers.

TAME Flight 173, a Boeing 737-2V2 Advanced operated by Ecuador's national airline TAME, flying on a domestic route from the now-closed Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito to Mariscal Lamar International Airport in Cuenca, crashed on 11 July 1983 into a hill during final approach just 1 mile from its final destination, killing all 119 people on board.

Cuenca, officially Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca, is an Ecuadorian city, head of the canton of the same name and capital of the province of Azuay, as well as its largest and most populated city. It is crossed by the Tomebamba, Tarqui, Yanuncay and Machángara rivers, in the south-central inter-Andean region of Ecuador, in the Paute river basin, at an altitude of 2,538 meters above sea level and with a temperate Andean climate averaging 16.3 °C.