AeroSur


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

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 24 August of that year, using an initial fleet of Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner and British Aerospace 146 aircraft. Over the following years, larger Boeing 727 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, 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. Since 2009, the domestic fleet of ageing 727s is replaced by more modern, though second-hand purchased Boeing 737 Classic airliners.
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.
On 31 March 2012, the airline suspended operations because of unpaid taxes, but resumed all flights on 6 April 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. Ultimately, AeroSur struggled to keep its operations running smoothly and returned its 767 aircraft to the lessor.
On 17 May 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 AeroSur's air operator's certificate was revoked on 20 July 2012. A group of former employees, as well as William Petty, planned to create a new airline called TU Aerolínea, but, as of 2018, nothing had happened as far as that venture.

Destinations

Fleet

Last fleet

As of November 2011, the AeroSur fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
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.

Fleet development

Over the years, AeroSur operated the following aircraft types:
AircraftIntroducedRetired
Airbus A330-2002006
BAe 146-100/200
1992
1996
Beechcraft Baron
1992
1993
Boeing 727-100
Boeing 727-200
Boeing 737-200
2003
2012
Boeing 737-300
2009
Boeing 737-400
2010
2012
Boeing 747-300
2008
2010
Boeing 747-400
2009
Boeing 757-200
2006
2010
Boeing 767-200
2007
2012
De Havilland Canada DHC-6
1999
2001
Douglas DC-32004
Dornier Do 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"

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