Background and early years

Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), was founded on 24 October 2007 by the Bolivian government under president Evo Morales, who signed Supreme Decree 29318 into law, establishing the new airline as a strategic state-owned enterprise with the purpose of sustaining the Bolivian air travel market, which had been left exposed during the downturn of Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB), the country's former flag carrier.^{[4] [5]}

Proposals from the Bolivian government to establish a new airline quickly became concrete in 2006 when LAB suspended much of its air routes due to financial difficulties and years of mismanagement. LAB had accumulated losses since 1995, at the time of its partial acquisition by Brazilian airline VASP.^[6] Its debts approached $180 million dollars and in 2012, it formally ceased operations after 87 years of service. At the time of its demise, Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano was the second oldest airline in South America after Avianca.

On 29 March 2009, Boliviana de Aviación launched its first scheduled flight between the cities of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra using one of the two Boeing 737-300 it acquired that same year.

In 2011, BoA became the main airline in the country after the bankruptcy of AeroSur, Bolivia's second largest carrier.

Route expansion

At the start of operations, the Boeing 737-300 used to form the core of the airline's fleet.

In less than three months of operations (after its inaugural flight), Boliviana de Aviación extended its domestic network serving the city of Tarija.^[7] In a gradual time the airline expects to extend its services to the principal cities in Bolivia to consolidate its presence in the national market.^[7] The inaugural flight to Tarija was made from El Alto International Airport.^[7]

Boliviana de Aviación operates a comprehensive network of scheduled domestic flights, covering all the principal cities of Bolivia. However the airline's fast growth allowed BoA to commence operating international routes. On 14 May 2010, Boliviana de Aviación received all the operative authorizations for flying internationally inaugurating its first international flight from Cochabamba to Buenos Aires.^[8] In November 2010, the airline inaugurated its second international destination: São Paulo.^[9] BoA currently offers daily non-stop service to Buenos Aires and five weekly frequencies to São Paulo.^[10]

Following AeroSur's demise in 2012, BoA became the principal carrier of Bolivia, and leased an Airbus A330 to inaugurate the key link to Madrid, Spain in November 2012.^[11] BoA later leased Boeing 767s to operate this flight.

On February 8, 2022, Boliviana de Aviación launched its new destination to Lima, Peru.^[12]

On October 26 2023, Boliviana de Aviación inaugurated its first flight to Havana, Cuba.

On November 3 2023, Boliviana de Aviación launched its new destination to Caracas, Venezuela.

Fleet expansion

Boliviana de Aviación started operations with two Boeing 737-300s.

• On 29 September 2009, BoA announced the arrival of its 3rd Boeing 737.
• On 14 April 2010, BoA received its 4th Boeing 737.
• In April 2011, BoA received its 5th Boeing 737, president Evo Morales celebrated the new acquisition and emphasized the positive results in the coverage of the internal market.^[13]
• On 14 September 2014, BoA announced the arrival of its first Boeing 767-300ER.
• On May 4 2023, BoA acquired its first two Airbus A330-200s. An introduction to the airlines new modernized long haul fleet.

Codeshare agreements

Boliviana de Aviación has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

• Aerolíneas Argentinas^[23]
• Avianca^[24]
• Iberia^[25]

Current fleet

A Boliviana Boeing 737-700 landing at São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport

A Boliviana Boeing 767-300ER approaching Miami International Airport

A Boliviana Airbus A330-200 departing Ministro Pistarini International Airport

The fleet of Boliviana de Aviación includes the following aircraft as of December 2023:^[26][27][28]

Former fleet

Since its inception, Boliviana de Aviación has operated the following aircraft:^[27]

Antonov An-148

The Bolivian Government and the Russian ambassador were negotiating the acquisition of the Antonov An-148 for official and civil uses.^[30] Bolivia was interested in acquiring eight planes, one as the presidential carrier and seven to the state-owned airlines which are Boliviana de Aviación and Transporte Aéreo Militar. According to the negotiation, BoA would have received four planes and TAM three planes of this type.^[31] However, the negotiation depended on the cooperative advances between the Bolivian and Russian governments as regards a credit for US$250 million. Such plan has been postponed/canceled due to economic and technical unviability.^[32]