Summary
- Bolivia’s Amaszonas has lost its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and faces closure unless it might regain it inside 60 days.
- The small regional carrier has been on the point of bankruptcy and recently had a dispute with its lessor over a debt of $12 million.
- Amaszonas had a limited fleet, with just one aircraft available for operations, and its failure would mark the top of an unsuccessful regional experiment with multiple sister airlines.
Bolivia’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC, in Spanish) has suspended the Air Operator Certificate of Amaszonas. This small regional carrier was forced to shut down in August 2023 following a dispute with its lessor. The corporate now has 60 days to regain the AOC or could face everlasting closure.
Amaszonas has lost its AOC
The Latin American region is about to lose one other airline, apparently. In what can be the twelfth airline to stop operations within the region since 2020, Bolivia’s Amaszonas is on the point of disappearing after having lost its AOC.
On November 18, the Bolivian authorities suspended Amaszonas AOC attributable to the absence of an aircraft available for the corporate’s operations. Amaszonas has been on the point of bankruptcy for quite a while now: in 2020, it was rescued by the Nella Group, a Brazilian firm with ties to the Middle East and the US that aimed to take a position in regional ailing firms across Latin America, corresponding to Amaszonas and –briefly– Mexico’s Aeromar, before the corporate formally shut down in March 2023. The Nella Group sold the corporate to a neighborhood businessman called Luiz Divino in October.
Per ch-aviation’s database, the corporate only had one aircraft, an Embraer E190-100LR, registration CP-3171, which had arrived at the corporate in 2021. Up to now it also had other planes corresponding to CRJ100LRs, CRJ200LRs, and DHC-8-200s.
Photo: Elzbieta Sekowska | Shutterstock.
If Amaszonas Uruguay does close down, it might be the top of a regional experiment that saw the launch of Amaszonas, Amaszonas Argentina, Amaszonas BQB, Amaszonas Paraguay, and Amaszonas Uruguay. All of those firms have failed.
Is there any hope for Amaszonas in Bolivia?
While the corporate had its AOC suspended, it has 60 days to regain it and resume operations, in line with a report from Air Data News. The manager director of Bolivia’s DGAC said,
Amaszonas has to present a corrective motion plan, which can propose how you can restart their operations inside a period they see fit and maintain an lively network. Nonetheless, if Amaszonas fails to do that, the corporate will likely come to an end.
The most recent dispute
In August, it was reported that Amaszonas had a heated dispute with its lessor, GY Aviation Lease. The corporate had a debt of around $12 million, accrued from the lease of 4 Embraer ERJ 190-100LRs (the opposite planes had registrations CP-3135, CP-3142, and CP-3145).
Photo: Inga Locmele | Shutterstock.
On its website, Amaszonas offered flights to 4 domestic destinations and two international cities. In keeping with Amaszonas, it flew the routes La Paz-Sucre, La Paz-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz-Sucre, and Santa Cruz-Cochabamba within the domestic segment. Internationally, it flew from Santa Cruz to Iquique in Chile and Asunción in Paraguay.
What do you concentrate on this? Do you expect Amaszonas to resume flying in the long run? Tell us within the comments below.