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]
Subsidiaries
  • AeroSur Cargo
  • AeroSur Paraguay
Fleet size6
Destinations16
HeadquartersSanta Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Key peopleHumberto Roca (CEO)
Websiteaerosur.com

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]

History

An AeroSur Boeing 727-200 at La Paz International Airport in 2002

Foundation and background

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. The airline's first flight was from Santa Cruz to Potosí.

Over the following years, larger Boeing 727-200 airliners were acquired, allowing for a growth of network size and passenger numbers.

Further expansion in the 21st century

51st President of Bolivia, Hugo Banzer

During the 2000s AeroSur renewed and expanded its fleet, introducing larger aircraft of the types Boeing 747 and Boeing 757,[7] which made the inauguration of long-haul flights possible. In 2002, President Hugo Banzer declared the airline the flag carrier of the Republic of Bolivia (línea aérea bandera), in that very year AeroSur became the first airline in Bolivia to offer business and first class flights. In 2004, AeroSur had started to operate nostalgic flights with a Douglas C-117 to tourist destinations such as the Salar de Uyuni and Rurrenabaque, both of which are internationally recognized.

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] In 2010, AeroSur added five new aircraft to its fleet: three Boeing 737-300s, one Boeing 737-400 and a Boeing 767-200ER.

Bankruptcy

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-Aerolíneas 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

AeroSur Paraguay's Boeing 737-200 at Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 2010

The airline had two subsidiaries:

AeroSur Cargo

AeroSur had freight transport service nationwide and international with direct shipments. AeroSur did not operate any dedicated cargo aircraft, but used the cargo holds of its passenger aircraft for network-wide freight transport.

AeroSur Paraguay

AeroSur Paraguay was a brand of its parent company which was trying to become a future airline based at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, in Asunción, Paraguay and to be a subsidiary of the Bolivian airline.[10] Unfortunately, the brand could never be consolidated as one legitimate and legally operational airline, it only became the name for one of the Bolivian airline's aircraft that has already been withdrawn from its fleet due to the financial problems that afflict one of the most important private airlines in Bolivia in recent years.

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

An AeroSur Boeing 747-400 leased from Virgin Atlantic at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport in 2011
An AeroSur Boeing 767-200ER at Miami International Airport in 2011
An AeroSur Boeing 727-200 taxiing at São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport in 2012

As of November 2011, the AeroSur fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[11][12]

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 6

Fleet development

Over the years, AeroSur operated the following aircraft types:[3][7][13]

Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Aero Commander 500 1 Un­known 1998
Airbus A330-200 1 2006 2008 Operated by Air Comet
British Aerospace 146-100 2 1992 1996
British Aerospace 146-200 2 1993 1995
Beechcraft Baron 1 1992 1993
Boeing 727-100 7 1995 2005
Boeing 727-200 13 2001 2012
Boeing 737-200 5 2003 2012
Boeing 737-300 5 2009 2012
Boeing 737-400 1 2010 2012
Boeing 747-100SR 1 2006 2007 Leased from Logistic Air
Boeing 747-300 1 2008 2010 Leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic
Boeing 747-400 1 2009 2012 Leased from Virgin Atlantic
Boeing 757-200 4 2006 2010 Leased from Ryan International Airlines
Boeing 767-200ER 2 2008 2012
Dornier 228 1 2003 2004 Leased from Aerocon
Douglas C-117 1 2004 2008 Leased from Líneas Aéreas Canedo
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner 9 1992 1998
Let L-410 4 1992 1997
Piper PA-31 Navajo 1 1993 Un­known
Piper PA-34 Seneca 1 1993 Un­known
Yakovlev Yak-40 3 1995 2003

Accidents and 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.

Many street signs amongst others in Cochabamba, such as the signs for C. Mexico street, were financed by AeroSur and to this day still bear the Airline's name.[16]

The remaining AeroSur planes today

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. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 History of AeroSur at aerosur.com Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. 1 2 3 "AeroSur fleet list at". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  8. 1 2 3 "AeroSur". ch-aviation. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  9. ↑ "AeroSur says that its activities are normal but admits "difficulties" (in Spanish)". Opinion.com.bo. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  10. ↑ http://www.ultimahora.com/home/index.php?p=nota&idNota=39239
  11. ↑ "CH-Aviation - Airline News, Fleet Lists & More". Archived from the original on 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  12. ↑ "Planespotters.net airline page". Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  13. ↑ "Aerosur fleet". aerobernie.bplaced.net. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  14. ↑ "1997 incident at the Aviation Safety Network". Aviation-safety.net. 1997-12-31. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  15. ↑ Hosteltur (2009-07-17). "News item about AeroSur receiving a Bizz Award, at hosteltur.com (in Spanish)". Hosteltur.com. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  16. ↑ "Plantean cambiar el sentido de la México y otras tres vías del centro". 2022-08-01.
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