Jet fleet in 1978

1978 was a watershed year for the airline, becoming the first South American carrier to operate the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. As Lockheed was struggling with the TriStar programme, the company was forced to store two lounge-equipped TriStar 1s originally destined for delivery to Pacific Southwest Airlines for a couple of years (the belly bulge indicating the lounge position has been omitted on the TriStar aircraft pictured here). Eventually, Lockheed sold Aviaperú on leasing these two unusual trijets until their own TriStars were ready. Accordingly, the two US-registered TriStars (N10112 and N10114) arrived and replaced two of the three DC-8s leased from Air Jamaica.

The TriStars signalled the arrival of a new pink-top livery, replacing the previous white livery with red and pink accents in use since 1973.

Aviaperú put the TriStars into service on 14 December 1978 on the Lima-New York route and advertised an add-on package to US customers in which they could fly anywhere within the Peruvian domestic network as many times as they liked within fifteen days for only an extra $99.

This was the zenith of Aviaperú's operations, but the arrival of the TriStars was rather ill-timed as it coincided with the 1979 OPEC oil crisis. Aviaperú suddenly found itself unable to afford the TriStars which were probably too large for its routes at even the best of times. Forced to live within its means, Aviaperú cancelled its TriStar 500 orders, returned the TriStar 1s by the end of 1981, and turned back to the trusty DC-8s that have long formed the backbone of the airline's long-haul fleet.