AeroSur

Compañía Boliviana de Transporte Aéreo Privado Aerosur, S.A.,[2] shortened and styled AeroSur, was a privately owned airline from Bolivia, which served as the country's flag carrier since 1998,[3] along with state-owned Boliviana de Aviación. Headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra,[4] it operated a network of domestic and international scheduled passenger flights with its hub at the city's Viru Viru International Airport.[5] As of 2010, the airline had 1200 employees.[6]

Compañía Boliviana de Transporte Aéreo Privado Aerosur S.A.
IATA ICAO Callsign
5L RSU AEROSUR
FoundedApril 1992
Ceased operationsMay 17, 2012
HubsViru Viru International Airport
Secondary hubsEl Alto International Airport
Frequent-flyer programClub AeroSur[1]
SubsidiariesAeroSur Cargo
AeroSur Paraguay
Fleet size5
Destinations20
HeadquartersSanta Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Key peopleHumberto Roca (CEO)
Websiteaerosur.com

History

AeroSur was established in April 1992, following the deregulation of the Bolivian airline market, which previously had been controlled by state-owned Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano. Revenue flights on regional routes were commenced on August 24 of that year,[3] using an initial fleet of Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner and British Aerospace 146 aircraft. Over the following years, larger Boeing 727-200 airliners were acquired, allowing for a growth of network size and passenger numbers.

During the 2000s, AeroSur renewed and expanded its fleet, introducing larger aircraft of the types Boeing 747, Boeing 757 and Boeing 767,[7] which made the inauguration of long-haul flights possible. When Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano went bankrupt in 2007, AeroSur became the largest airline of Bolivia and the only one with intercontinental flights (to Central and North America as well as to Europe). Since 2009, the domestic fleet of ageing Boeing 727s is replaced by more modern, though second-hand purchased Boeing 737 Classic airliners,[7] and looked to start a Peruvian subsidiary, however that project was suspended indefinitely.

The subsidiary dubbed AeroSur Paraguay was planned to operate two Boeing 737-200 aircraft of mainline AeroSur. The further development of the project was postponed in mid-2009 pending Paraguayan governmental approval, and later deferred indefinitely.[3]

Bankrupcty

On March 31, 2012, the airline suspended operations because of unpaid taxes, but resumed all flights on April 6, except for its Madrid route. AeroSur had used a 747 leased from Virgin Atlantic on that route but had returned it to the lessor. The airline planned to resume that route with an ex-Aerolineas Argentinas 747-400.[8][9] Ultimately, AeroSur struggled to keep its operations running smoothly and returned its 767 aircraft to the lessor.[8]

On May 17, 2012 AeroSur suspended all its flights again, and other airlines such as state-owned Boliviana de Aviación have since begun to fill the void left by AeroSur. The airline was in talks with potential US investor William Petty who signed a memorandum of understanding to invest up to US$15 million in the Bolivian carrier. AeroSur's air operator's certificate was revoked on July 20, 2012. A group of former employees, as well as William Petty, planned to create a new airline called TU Aerolínea,[8] but, as of 2018, nothing had happened as far as that venture.

Subsidiaries

The airline had two subsidiaries:

AeroSur Cargo

AeroSur had freight transport service nationwide and international with direct shipments.

AeroSur Paraguay

AeroSur Paraguay was a brand that would be consolidated into a future airline but it never happened, one aircraft from AeroSur was called AeroSur Paraguay and operated from Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Asunción, it was expected that over time more aircraft would arrive to the fleet to form a true subsidiary airline, but finally the company abandoned that project.

Destinations
Main article: AeroSur destinations

AeroSur's destination network was organized around Viru Viru International Airport from where it offered services to various cities in South America, as well as direct flights to Miami and Madrid.

Fleet

Last fleet
AeroSur Boeing 727-200
AeroSur Boeing 747-400

As of November 2011, the AeroSur fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[10][11]

AeroSur fleet
Aircraft In Service Passengers Routes Notes
F B E Total
Boeing 727-200 1 0 12 138 150 Domestic
Boeing 737-300 4 0 12 114 126 Domestic, American
Boeing 747-400 1 14 58 379 451 Madrid leased from Virgin Atlantic
Total 5

AeroSur did not operate any dedicated cargo aircraft, but used the cargo holds of its passenger aircraft for network-wide freight transport. Additionally, tourist sightseeing flights were offered on a single Douglas DC-3.[3]

Fleet development
AeroSur Boeing 747-300, nicknamed "El Torisimo" ("big bull")
AeroSur Boeing 767-200ER, nicknamed "El Sharko"

Over the years, AeroSur operated the following aircraft types:[3][7]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
Aircraft Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A330-200 2007 2008 Operated by Air Comet
British Aerospace 146-100 1992 1996
British Aerospace 146-200 1993 1995
Beechcraft Baron 1992 1993
Boeing 727-100 1995
Boeing 727-200 2001 2012
Boeing 737-200 2003 2012
Boeing 737-300 2009 2012
Boeing 737-400 2010 2012
Boeing 747-100SR 2006 2007 Leased from Logistic Air
Boeing 747-300 2008 2010 Leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic
Boeing 747-400 2009 2012 Leased from Virgin Atlantic
Boeing 757-200 2006 2010
Boeing 767-200ER 2007 2012
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 1999 2001
Douglas DC-3 2004 2008
Dornier 228 2003 2004
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner 1993 1998
Let 410 1992 1993
Piper PA-31 Navajo 1992 1993
Piper PA-34 Seneca 1992 1993
Yakovlev Yak-40 1998 2001

"Pirate Plane"
AeroSur Lockheed Constellation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. (YV-C-AME)

A Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation with the AeroSur livery nicknamed "Pirate Plane", can be found in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This aircraft never entered in service with AeroSur.

Incidents

Awards and recognitions

Contributions

AeroSur also greatly supported the sport, especially football, where it created the Copa Aerosur and la Copa AeroSur del Sur and in mid 2009, the AeroSur Futsal Cup was organized for the first time, where CRE and AeroSur from Bolivia, River Plate of Argentina and President Hayes of Paraguay, in which the host team AeroSur won.

References
  1. Information about Club AeroSur at aerosur.comArchived December 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "DOE Accepted Carriers." Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Retrieved on January 23, 2011.
  3. "Information about AeroSur at the Aero Transport Data Bank". Aerotransport.org. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  4. "Contact Information Archived 2010-01-30 at the Wayback Machine." AeroSur. Retrieved on February 27, 2010. "Central Office Santa Cruz de la Sierra Dirección: Av. Irala # 61"
  5. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 50.
  6. History of AeroSur at aerosur.com Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "AeroSur fleet list at". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  8. "AeroSur". ch-aviation. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  9. "AeroSur says that its activities are normal but admits "difficulties" (in Spanish)". Opinion.com.bo. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2008-09-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Planespotters.net airline page". Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  12. "1997 incident at the Aviation Safety Network". Aviation-safety.net. 1997-12-31. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  13. Hosteltur (2009-07-17). "News item about AeroSur receiving a Bizz Award, at hosteltur.com (in Spanish)". Hosteltur.com. Retrieved 2018-01-29.

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