Monday, May 4, 2015

ROUTE UPDATE: Amaszonas did not start former BQB Flights today May 4, might start May 8

Portal de America reports that everything seemed in order on April 29 when Amaszonas announced that it would start service from Montevideo (MVD) to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on May 4 operating the same twice-daily flights that BQB Lineas Aereas used to fly. However, on April 30 there was no sign of the flights actually materializing.

Also raising a lot of doubts was a set of questions that Portal de America submitted to Amaszonas management on April 18 about the legal and operational structure of the new Amaszonas/BQB entity, which Amaszonas failed to answer.  The most significant questions were as follows:

1) What brand will the new operation fly under ?  Amaszonas Uruguay ?

2) Will the new airline start operations with BQB ATR-72's for a simpler and 
    faster transition ? 

3) Has the new operation received permission from the Argentine authorities to 
    fly Amaszonas CRJ-200's, which are registered in Bolivia, between 
    Montevideo (MVD) and Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) under the route 
    authority granted to BQB, a Uruguayan airline ?

4) BQB's Air Operator Certificate is owned by Los Cipreses, a Uruguayan  
    company that owns the Buquebus ferry lines.  Can a Bolivian company take 
    over the certificate without going through a major regulatory process ?         

The issue raised by the above questions, especially 3) and 4), are enough to sideline the new Amaszonas/BQB operation for weeks and possibly months while all of the regulatory formalities are worked out.

In the meantime, Portal de America reports that a couple of the GDS are showing BOTH Amaszonas and BQB flights as operating between Montevideo (MVD) and Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) this coming Friday, May 8 on the two daily slots formerly operated by BQB.

Sources:

http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/pda/otras-noticias/item/20897-amaszonas-anuncia-su-nueva-ruta-a-aeroparque
http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/columnistas/sergio-antonio-herrera/item/20901-del-silencio-de-bqb-al-silencio-de-amaszonas
http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/pda/otras-noticias/item/20906-papel%C3%B3n-confirmado-ni-amaszonas-ni-bqb-vuelan-el-lunes

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