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Lao Aviation began in 1976 after a forced merger by the North Vietnamese government after the end of the Vietnam war. Lao Aviation was originally called the Civil Aviation Co and was operated by people who supported the North Vietnamese during the war. The two other main airlines in Laos at this time were Royal Air Lao and Lao Air Lines and the fleets of these two were used by the Civil Aviation Co. to form the new airline, which became the national flag carrier. Lao Aviation started life with a mixed fleet of Hercules, Viscounts, Douglas DC-3 and DC-4s and Sikorsky S-58 aircraft. This western fleet could not serve the new airline as it had not routes initially and spare parts for western aircraft were not available so the more modern of the fleet types were sold and Lao Aviation re-equipped with a new fleet of mainly Soviet-built aircraft. The initial fleet type for the fledgling services from Vientiane was the Antonov An-24 (below) and soon routes to Bangkok, Hanoi and Phnom-Penh saw this aircraft type. In 1979 the Civil Aviation Co. changed its name to Lao Aviation. The 1990s have seen Lao Aviation introducing Chinese Yunshuji aircraft and with the government decision to allow foreign investment in the airline new western types have also been added to the fleet in the form of th ATR-72 turboprop and a Boeing 737 series 200.