ROUTE UPDATES: Odds & Ends - Air Canada, American, Avianca, British, Conviasa, Emirates

* Air Canada 

Replaced the usual 767-300 aircraft on its Toronto (YYZ) - Santiago (SCL) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - Toronto (YYZ) "triangle" route with the 777-300ER for the southern hemisphere "summer" period from October 2015 to March 2016, which resulted in a 65% increase in seating capacity with a total of 349 seats on each flight. 

The Canadian airline will once again operate the 777-300ER on the route from 30Oct16 to 24Mar17.

* American Airlines

Operated the 787-8 between Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) and Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) for only five months (June - November 2015) and then went back to the 777-200, which it is still flying on the route today. 

* Avianca 

Started operating the 787-8 on the Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - Bogota (BOG) route on 01Feb15 but apparently replaced it with the A330-200, with the exception of the 787-8 again for a month from 16Aug15 to 17Sep15.  Avianca is currently operating the A330-200 between Argentina and Colombia on a daily basis.   

* British Airways 

After having reduced the frequency on its London Heathrow (LHR) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) route from daily to 5x/weekly on 31Mar15, the carrier returned to daily service operated by 777-200's in November 2015, which it is still flying to this day.   

* Conviasa

Leased a 747-446, EC-LNA (c/n 26346/897), that it started flying from Caracas (CCS) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) 2x/weekly on 01Nov15.  It is still flying to Argentina on the same basis.  

* Emirates 

Upgauged from the 777-200 to the 777-300ER on its daily Dubai (DXB) - Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) service on 01Sep15, which it still maintains today.  

Sources:

http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2015/avn151029/avn-151029.html
http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2015/avn150924/avn-150924.html
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/250247/avianca-adds-boeing-787-buenos-aires-sao-paulo-service-in-augsep-2015/ via Eric Trum
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/251801/conviasa-adds-leased-boeing-747-operation-from-nov-2015/ via Eric Trum

Alas Uruguay - Financial Results, Talks with Azul and Boliviana & Returning One 737-300

Alas Uruguay continues to establish itself on the Montevideo (MVD) to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) and Asuncion (ASU) routes (also Aeroparque to Punta del Este (PDP) in the summertime) but has fallen well short of revenue projections made in it business plan. 

Passengers Flown

The carrier had flown 27,000 passengers between its 22Jan16 inaugural flight and mid-May, broken down into 800 in January, 2,000 in February, 7,500 in March, and 8,500 in April with a forecast of 8,800 travelers in May.  

Market Share

Alas' market share on the all-important Montevideo (MVD) - Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) route was approx. 20% with 13 weekly flights vs. Aerolineas Argentinas' 80% with 32 weekly services as of mid-May but it is gaining ground by about 4-5 percentage points per month, which is not surprising because even being a relatively unknown carrier, the passengers flying this route overwhelmingly originate in the Argentine and Uruguayan capitals with many of them being frequent flyers so it is natural for them to learn about Alas Uruguay without the carrier investing a lot in advertising.  Both carriers charge an average of US$ 195 round-trip on the route.  

Alas flies its other route, Montevideo (MVD) - Asuncion (ASU), 3x/weekly in competition with Amaszonas Paraguay's 10x/weekly flights using CRJ-200's.  

Financial Results

The carrier had US$ 1.3 million in revenue in April and a similar amount in May but this is putting it on track to reach only 25% of its business plan projection of US$ 66 million for its first year of operations.  With monthly expenses in the US$1.6 million range, the airline is losing money.  Alas had projected a 60% load factor but was averaging only about 30%-40% full as of mid-May. 

Alas' employees are reportedly collecting only 50% of their salaries, directing the other 50% to capitalizing the company.  Even so, the airline has fallen behind in paying the reduced amounts.  

By July, the airline's outlook appeared to improve a little bit as it paid back much of the backwages owed and its Aeroparque flights were reportedly completely full due to the Uruguayan and Argentine winter vacation periods.  

Talks with Azul and Boliviana

Alas is also continuing some of the talks that it has already had with other carriers in the past about possible cooperation, mergers or takeovers with one of the latest discussions reportedly being with Azul Linhas Aereas about an investment that the latter wants to make in the Uruguayan airline but only if Alas reduces the number of employees on its payroll, returns all of its 737-300's and replaces them with ATR aircraft (which Azul already operates) and allows Azul to manage the airline, with Alas' management only accepting the proposed change of aircraft so far.  

Boliviana de Aviacion, the state-owned Bolivian 737-300 operator, offered to invest US$ 5 million with co-management of Alas Uruguay at first likely passing on to Boliviana control in a few months with a deadline of 22Jul16 for Alas to make a decision but there has been no news so far.     
Returning one 737-300

Most recently, it became evident that the carrier was going to have to cut back on fixed costs and it announced that it will seek to return one of its three 737-300's, CX-OAB (c/n 28869/2887), to the lessor.   Alas is paying US$ 80,000 per month leases on the 737-300's and it apparently only needs two aircraft for the current level of scheduled service.   

Sources:

http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/columnistas/sergio-antonio-herrera/item/23019-alas-uruguay-acevedo-y-de-los-santos-contra-todos
http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/pda/entrevistas-y-reportajes/item/22770-entre-el-cielo-y-la-tierra-las-alas-de-la-discordia
http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/columnistas/sergio-antonio-herrera/item/22729-alas-uruguay-es-preferible-el-silencio

Andes Lineas Aereas - 10 years flying in Argentina - MD-82/83, MD-87 & CRJ-900 - PHOTO HISTORY

Aircraft Color Schemes

Andes' aircraft have carried four different, although closely related, color schemes. 

First Scheme

The first aircraft that the airline took delivery of was MD-82 LV-BEP (c/n 49127/1082) on 08May06 with MD-82 LV-BHF (c/n 49508/1449) also joining the fleet on 16Dec06.  Both aircraft flew in Andes' first color scheme as illustrated below: 

Andes MD-82 LV-BEP (c/n 49127/1082) at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) in September 2007.  (Phil Perry Collection)

Second Scheme

The airline then modified the scheme moving the titles to mid-fuselage, doing away with the turismosalta.gov.ar website address, painting the tail and engines white, and modifying the tail logo as seen here:

LV-BNI (c/n 49415/1260) at Aeroparque in December 2008:

http://www.jetphotos.net/photo/6468315

Third Scheme

The third scheme saw the font on the titles change completely with "andes" being preceded and followed by small "www." and "online.com" titles making it into a web address.  The small logo on the engines stayed the same with the tail logo being modified though keeping its basic shape. These changes can be seen below:

Andes MD-82 LV-BTH (c/n 49952/1934) at Aeroparque in March 2009:  

http://www.jetphotos.net/photo/6523161

Fourth Scheme

The fourth variation on the scheme was introduced in 2010 on MD-83 LV-CCJ (c/n 49621/1495) with the only change from the third version being a completely different tail logo as seen below. The carrier continues to use this scheme today. 

Andes MD-83, LV-CCJ (c/n 49621/1495), taxis at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 15Aug14.  (Phil Perry Photo)

Andes MD-87's 

Photos were taken of at least one of Andes' two MD-87's, LV-BZR (c/n 49706/1614) which sported an all-metal fuselage reflecting its previous service with AeroMexico:  

LV-BZR with small titles at Aeroparque in January 2010:             

www.jetphotos.net/photo/6876978 

LV-BZR with large billboard titles at Florianapolis (FLN) in February 2010: 

http://www.jetphotos.net/photo/6791695

Andes CRJ-900's

Andes operated two CRJ-900's, both for about a year in 2010/11.  

Andes CRJ-900, LV-CFD (c/n 15064), at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 03Oct10. This aircraft flew with Andes from 07Jun10 until August 2011.  (Phil Perry Photo) 

Andes CRJ-900, LV-CGW (c/n 15065), taxis at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 20Mar11.  This was the second (and final) CRJ-900 delivered to Andes.  It was delivered to the carrier on 09Sep10 but only flew with the airline until August 2011. (Phil Perry Photo)   

Special Schemes / Stickers

"Travelrock" Billboard Scheme 

Andes MD-83, LV-WGM (c/n 49784/1627), in a special scheme depicting the Travelrock student tour company for which the carrier flies special charters. This photo of the aircraft landing at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) was taken on 10Dec15.  (Phil Perry Photo)

LV-WGM wore the special scheme from 10Aug15 until no later than May 2016 when it was photographed with a white tail, no Travelrock titles, and a "Chevrolet - Bariloche 2016" sticker.    

"Chevrolet- Bariloche 2016" Stickers

Andes MD-83, LV-AYD (c/n 53015/1818), landing at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 07May16 wearing a special "Chevrolet Bariloche 2016" sticker.  (Carlos Abella Photo)  

LV-WGM wearing the same sticker with a white tail at Belo Horizonte (CNF) on 04May16:

http://www.jetphotos.net/photo/8269604

"Racing" Argentine football (soccer) club stickers

LV-AYD wearing this special sticker:  

http://aerospotter.blogspot.com.ar/2015/05/andes-y-racing.html

Two A320's in 2011/12

Andes wet-leased two A320-214's from the Spanish airline Vueling, EC-JGM (c/n 2407) and EC-LLJ (c/n 4661), for a short period of time from 30Dec11 to 05Mar12 and 09Apr12, respectively.  Both aircraft retained their full Vueling colors during the lease. 

Source:

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Andes%20Lineas%20Aereas.htm

Andes Lineas Aereas - 10 years flying in Argentina - Profile & History

Andes Lineas Aereas was founded in Salta (SLA), Argentina in 2005 and started service in June 2006.  The main reason behind its start-up was to add flights between Salta (SLA) and Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to make up for the loss of capacity on the route due to sharp cutbacks in service, including a significantly down-sized fleet, by the then-owner of Aerolineas Argentinas, the Spanish Marsans tourism group.   

Fleet

Andes fleet has consisted of a total of thirteen MD-82/83 series aircraft, two short-bodied MD-87's, two CRJ-900's and two A320's. It appears that some of the MD-80's never entered service with the airline and were only used for spare parts.  

Andes currently operates four MD-83's, LV-AYD (c/n 53015/1818), LV-CCJ (c/n 49621/1495), LV-WGM (c/n 49784/1627) and LV-WGN (c/n 49934/1764).     

Scheduled Routes

The airline has flown scheduled services, primarily between Salta (SLA) and Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) with extensions in the south to Puerto Madryn (PMY), the Patagonian city located on the Atlantic which is famous for whale-watching, and Jujuy (JUJ) in the north, some 80 miles from Salta.

Charter Services

Very important to Andes has also been its numerous charter services, with perhaps more charter flights during the last decade than any other Argentine airline.  

These include charter flights on behalf of tour operators selling vacation packages, such as to the Brazilian destinations of Florianopolis (FLN), Maceio (MCZ), Natal (NAT), Porto Seguro (BPS), Recife (REC), Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG), and Salvador de Bahia (SSA). the Dominican Republic resorts of Punta Cana (PUJ) and La Romana (LRM) plus Montevideo (MVD) and Punta del Este (PDP) in Uruguay.   

Andes also flies sports charters for professional football (soccer) teams and their supporters all over South America for tournaments such as the Copa de Libertadores and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.    

The airline also flies many domestic charters in Argentina, especially student trips to the lake. mountain and ski resort of Bariloche (BRC) located near the Chilean border and Andes mountain range.  

Andes even painted an MD-83 with the name of one of Argentina's most important student tour operators, Travelrock, emblazoned on the side in billboard titles.  Cities served in Argentina on a charter basis have included Cordoba (COR), Malargüe (LGS), Puerto Iguazu (IGR), Resistencia (RES), San Juan (UAQ), Chapelco / San Martin de Los Andes (CPC), and Ushuaia (USH).

The next posting will feature a photo history of much of Andes' fleet and its aircraft color schemes.  

Sources:

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Andes%20Lineas%20Aereas.htm
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes_L%C3%ADneas_A%C3%A9reas

http://web.archive.org/web/20100825235622/http://www.andesonline.com/andes_site/index.php?l=servicios.php

ROUTE UPDATES: Cordoba (COR) - Aerolineas Argentinas - More New Routes & Summer Charters

More Cordoba (COR) route news:

* Aerolineas Argentinas - Cordoba (COR) - Porto Seguro (BPS) - eff 09Sep16

The route will be operated 1x/weekly using 737-800's.  This type of route to a Brazilian beach resort is normally operated as a seasonal summer service but the airline is getting an early start on it this year. 

* Aerolineas Argentinas - Cordoba (COR) - Rio Cuarto (RCU) - Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) round-trip - eff 11Sep16

This service will be flown 6x/weekly using Austral E190's departing Cordoba (COR) in the early morning, stopping in Rio Cuarto (RCU), and continuing to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP), arriving there at 9:10am.  The return journey is the same routing in reverse departing Aeroparque to Rio Cuarto and Cordoba at 8:25pm, making for very convenient daytrip possibilities for Rio Cuarto residents traveling to Buenos Aires for business or other reasons. 

The Rio Cuarto (RCU) - Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) route was served by Sol Lineas Aereas using their Saab 340's during approx. 2008 - 2011 and also Aerolineas Argentinas in decades past.  Rio Cuarto (RCU) - Cordoba (COR) was served for a short time by Southern Winds using their CRJ-200's in the late 1990's. 
  
* Aerolineas Argentinas - Cordoba (COR) to Florianopolis (FLN) and Salvador de Bahia (SSA) - eff December 2016 / January 2017

Aerolineas has already confirmed its southern hemisphere summer 2017 charters from Cordoba (COR) to Brazil, probably using 737-700's or 800's due to range considerations (not Austral E190's due to lack of range when carrying a full payload).    

No word yet on Cordoba (COR) to Mar del Plata (MDQ) and Cancun (CUN) charters which were operated in summer 2016 using Austral E190's and Aerolineas A340-300's, respectively.  

Sources:

http://www.puntal.com.ar/v2/article.php?id=187972 http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/07/aerolineas-argentinas-se-anticipa-la.html 
http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/06/cordoba-tendra-vuelos-rio-cuarto-y.html

ROUTE UPDATES: Cordoba (COR) - Gol, LATAM Brazil, and Aerolineas Argentinas More New Routes

* Gol - Cordoba (COR) - Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG) - eff 01May16 

Gol Transportes Aereos has dropped its 3x/weekly flights from Cordoba (COR) to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) and replaced them with daily "red-eye" 3:15am departures nonstop to Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG) using 737-800's.   

* LATAM Brazil - Cordoba (COR) - Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) - eff 01Jun16 upgrade

With Gol dropping the COR - GRU route, LATAM Brazil recently upgraded its 6x/weekly service on this city pair from A320's to A321's offering approx. 50 more seats per flight to accommodate the passengers no longer served by Gol on this route.    

* Aerolineas Argentinas - Cordoba (COR) - Resistencia (RES) - eff 07Sep16

This service will be operated 3x/weekly using Austral E190's.  

This sector was previously flown by 19-seat Macair Jetstream 32's between 2009 - 2013 but was discontinued when subsidies were withdrawn. 

Sources:

http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/06/cordoba-tendra-vuelos-rio-cuarto-y.html
http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/05/efecto-gol-latam-aumenta-su-capacidad.html

ROUTE UPDATES: American Airlines from Cordoba (COR) to Miami (MIA) ?

American Airlines 787-8 aircraft.  The carrier currently has 17 examples in its fleet. (American Airlines Photo)  

Use of the above photo is subject to the following American Airlines copyright notice: 

https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/support/american-airlines-copyright.jsp

The rumors of the last ten years or more that American Airlines will start flying from Cordoba (COR) to Miami (MIA) continue, even with Aerolineas Argentinas having recently discontinued service on the route for the fifth time in the last 40 years.     

The possibility of American serving the Cordoba route appeared strong in the late 1990's when the Argentine economy was doing well but the country soon entered recession culminating in the late 2001 economic crisis and ensuing deep recession that Argentina endured for several years.   

Advancing Technology & Improved Aircraft Economics 

However, with advancing aviation technology and especially the much greater of efficiency of the newest aircraft, such as American's 787-8, "long, thin routes" (long-distance with relatively little passenger traffic), such as Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA), are much more economically viable as fewer travelers are necessary for the routes to be profitable.   

Until the advent of the 787, the only aircraft with sufficient range for long routes were planes such as the 767 / A330, with approx. the same number of seats as the 787 but more expensive to operate or the 777 / A340 with many more seats and considerably more costly to fly.  

More economical aircraft, such as the 737-700/800 or A320/A321 class, with fewer seats and cheaper to fly are more suitable to fly from Cordoba (COR) to Miami (MIA) from a cost point of view but cannot fly such a long sector non-stop, which would be necessary for passenger convenience.

American's Miami (MIA) Hub

One important difference between a prospective American Airlines service out of Cordoba (COR) and that of Aerolineas Argentinas is that the latter carried point-to-point traffic with passengers terminating their journeys in Miami (MIA) while, in contrast, American would offer travelers connections to dozens of US cities through its massive Miami (MIA) hub operation.  

Currently, passengers can travel from Cordoba (COR) to US cities other than Miami (MIA) only on LATAM to Los Angeles (LAX), New York City (JFK), Orlando (MCO), and Washington-Dulles (IAD) or on COPA to about a dozen US cities through its Panama City (PTY) hub.  Those wanting to travel to all other points must first go to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) to fly on American, Delta or United to connect via their major US hubs.  

"Triangle" Route ?

There has been talk of American possibly flying from Miami (MIA) to Cordoba (COR) on a "triangle" basis, which the editor of this blog assumes would be something along the lines of Miami (MIA) - Asuncion (ASU) - Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA).  American flew from Miami to Asuncion for several years, recently discontinuing the service when tax moratoriums that had been granted to the carrier by the Paraguayan government as an incentive to fly the route expired.  

Another possibility would be Miami (MIA) - Puerto Iguazu (IGR) - Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA), which could be popular with tour operators that include the spectacular Iguazu Falls in their South American tour programs. 

Until such time that American possibly starts flying from Cordoba (COR), Argentina's only non-stop flights to the United States will be from Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE), in contrast to some other South American countries that have flights from more than one city, such as Colombia (Baranquilla, Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin and even Armenia), Ecuador (Guayaquil and Quito) and Brazil, which has flights from approx. 7-8 different airports to the US.   

Source:

http://www.carlospazvivo.com/negocios/29550-american-airlines-evalua-un-vuelos-desde-cordoba-a-nueva-york-y-miami via http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar

ROUTE UPDATES: History of Aerolineas Argentinas' Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) Service - 4 Previous Attempts

Aerolineas Argentinas recently discontinued its Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) service for the fifth time since 1979.  The previous four attempts had mixed success, with some attempts lasting much longer than others.    

The blog Aeropuerto Internacional Cordoba outlined the history of airline service between these two cities, which is summarized below (see link below "Sources" at the bottom of this posting for full details in Spanish):
   
First Attempt - 1979 - 1983  

Aerolineas flew the 707 from Cordoba (COR) to Miami (MIA) for four years until 1983, the longest that the carrier has ever maintained service on this route. 

Departures were on Wednesdays and Sundays with the Wednesday flight stopping twice, in Jujuy (JUJ) in northern Argentina and Bogota (BOG), with the Sunday flight being nonstop.  

This routine changed a little in 1980/81 with the Wednesday flight originating at Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) and stopping in Cordoba (COR) and Bogota (BOG) before arriving in Miami (MIA).  The flight was the same on Sundays but without the stop in Bogota (BOG).  Jujuy (JUJ) still had its own flight to the US 1x/weekly via Bogota (BOG).

Second Attempt - 1985

The second try at service from Cordoba (COR) to Miami (MIA) was in 1985 as part of a marketing plan to establish Cordoba (COR) as a national hub for Aerolineas, given the city's central location in Argentina and being the city with the country's second largest population.    

"Conexion Cordoba" involved flights to approx. 17-18 Argentine cities plus a couple of foreign destinations too.

The Miami (MIA) service had an inconvenient circuitous routing and even a change of aircraft, which probably explained its limited success.  

The service operated 1x/weekly on Fridays using a 737-200 from Cordoba (COR) to Tucuman (TUC) and Jujuy (JUJ) where there was a change of plane to a 727-200, which proceeded northward to Guayaquil (GYE) and Bogota (BOG) before finally arriving in Miami (MIA).  This service only lasted a few months being discontinued in 1985.

Third Attempt - 1994 - 1995

This was the most short-lived of all the Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) services, lasting only 10 1x/weekly flights between 23Dec94 and 10Mar95 in the southern hemisphere summer.      

The flights followed a Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) routing operated with 747-200's.  Rarely did as many as 150 passengers board in Cordoba (COR) which apparently was considered not enough to justify operating the route again the following summer. 

Fourth Attempt - 1998

This service flew 4x/weekly from Cordoba (COR) to Miami (MIA) nonstop with 747-200's from 01Jul98 to December when it was discontinued.  

Source:

http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/04/el-deja-vu-de-los-cordoba-miami.html

ROUTE UPDATES: Aerolineas Argentinas' Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) service discontinued for 5th time since 1979

Aerolineas Argentinas A330-223, LV-FNI (c/n 290), is the aircraft from the airline's fleet that operated the fewest number of the total 141 flights between Cordoba (COR) and Miami (MIA), only 4 legs.  (Phil Perry Collection)

Aerolineas Argentinas' Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) flights, which started on 04Jul15, were recently discontinued with the last flight departing Cordoba (COR) on 29May16.  This was the fifth time that service between the two cities was attempted but abandoned since 1979, once again leaving Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) as the only Argentine airport with nonstop flights to the United States.

The service operated 2x/weekly on Saturdays and Sundays with the aircraft operating the flights departing Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) early on Saturday morning on a ferry flight to Cordoba (COR) where they departed in the late morning to Miami (MIA) arriving there in the early evening.  Once in Florida, they turned around to fly back to Cordoba (COR) overnight arriving back in Argentina on Sunday morning where it started the same circuit again, finally ending with a ferry flight from Cordoba (COR) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) on Monday morning.       

A total of 141 sectors was flown between the two cities during the 11 months of operations with A340-300's operating 109 of the flights and A330-200's the remaining 32 legs (for full details on the number of sectors flown by each of the aircraft in Aerolineas' long-haul fleet, see the link below "Sources" at the bottom of this posting).  

Passenger loads ranged from a low of 88 travelers on the last Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) leg, which was to be expected given that it was an "orphan" leg with no corresponding return to Cordoba (COR).  The largest number of passengers was on the very first flight from Cordoba to Miami (MIA) on 04Jul15 with 292 people on board.  

In all, there were 15 flights with more than 250 passengers aboard and the average load of all the flights was over 200 travelers.  However, Aviacion News claimed that the load factor was below 70% and there was very little high yield traffic in Business Class.    

Only a few of the Ezeiza (EZE) - Cordoba (COR) - Ezeiza (EZE) legs were open for public sale, which meant that nearly all such flights were a "dead" operating cost burden to the overall profitability of the route. 

In the opinion of the editor of this blog, the repeated failures of the Cordoba (COR) - Miami (MIA) service have been mostly due to its having been operated as a point-to-point route, with no feed to other flights on either end, a situation which would be much different with American Airlines flying the route feeding into its massive Miami (MIA) hub with connections to approx. 100 destinations in the United States.             

Sources:

http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/05/cordoba-se-quedo-sin-vuelos-miami.html
http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/04/cordoba-se-queda-sin-vuelos-miami.html
http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2016/avn160407/avn-160407.html

ROUTE UPDATES: New Montevideo (MVD) Service Announcements in 2016 - PART 2

New service announcements for Montevideo (MVD) in 2016 - Part 2:

* Azul Linhas Aereas - Montevideo (MVD) - Porto Alegre (POA) - eff 01Jul16

Azul recently started service on this route flying ATR-72-600's 2x/weekly (although the original announcement was for 4x/weekly).    

* Amaszonas Uruguay - Montevideo (MVD) - Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) - July 2016 ?  

Amaszonas Uruguay, recently formed from the leftover BQB Lineas Aereas entity, was authorized by the Argentine ANAC aviation agency in late April to fly the Montevideo (MVD) - Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) route with flights expected to start in July with CRJ-200's.  Amaszonas Uruguay already has one aircraft, CRJ-200LR, CX-SDU (c/n 7209), which was transferred from the parent company with two more CRJ-200's expected to arrive in July and August, respectively, and a total fleet of eight aircraft by 2018. 

For full details on this new operation:

http://argentina-airline-news.blogspot.com.ar/2016/05/amaszonas-uruguay-plans-to-start-crj.html

* Sky Airline - Montevideo (MVD) - Santiago (SCL) - eff 12Sep16 

The Chilean "Low-Cost Carrier" is due to start daily nonstop service to Uruguay in September using A320's as part of its expansion to international destinations, such as Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE), Cordoba (COR) and Lima (LIM).    

Sources:

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/267146/azul-plans-uruguay-service-from-july-2016/ via Eric Trum
http://cabeceranorte.blogspot.com.ar/2016/04/amaszonas-volara-la-ruta-montevideo.html
http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2016/avn160630/avn-160630.html

ROUTE UPDATES: New Montevideo (MVD) Service Announcements in 2016 - PART 1

New service announcements for Montevideo (MVD) in 2016 - Part 1:

* Iberia - Montevideo (MVD) - Madrid (MAD) increasing 3x to 5x Weekly - eff 03Feb16

Iberia recently increased its nonstop service between these two cities and now operates this route using its new A330-200's.  

The Spanish airline flew the route several years ago only to cancel the service in 2013 which was replaced soon thereafter by Air Europa.  After Iberia underwent some restructuring, it restarted flights between Spain and Uruguay on 01Sep14 using A340-300's and today both airlines operate the route with A330-200's with 8x/weekly flights between them.      

* Amaszonas Paraguay - Montevideo (MVD) - Asuncion (ASU) - eff 18Mar16

The Paraguayan affiliate of Amaszonas Bolivia started service between the Uruguayan and Paraguayan capitals in March using CRJ-200's on a 3x/weekly basis.  Subsequent to this new service, the Amaszonas Group took the remains of BQB Lineas Aereas that it acquired in 2015 and used them to formally establish Amaszonas Uruguay, which currently also flies the Montevideo (MVD) - Asuncion (ASU) route 7x/weekly, complementing Amaszonas Paraguay's service for a total of 10x/weekly flights on the route by airlines from the group. 

* Gol Transportes Aereos - Montevideo (MVD) - Recife (REC) - eff June 2016 

Gol recently started 1x/weekly service on Saturdays between the Uruguayan capital and the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife using 737-800's.  

Sources:

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/250275/iberia-increases-montevideo-flights-from-feb-2016/ via Eric Trum
http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2016/avn160204/avn-160204.html
http://aerospotter.blogspot.com.ar/2016/03/amaszonas-paraguay-llega-montevideo.html
http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2016/avn160616/avn-160616.html

HISTORICAL PHOTO: Aerotransportes Litoral Argentino (ALA) C-47A, LV-GHZ at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) in 1968

Aerotransportes Litoral Argentino Douglas C-47A, LV-GHZ (c/n 25354/13909), at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) in 1968.  Note the two other ALA C-47's in the background.  (Phil Perry Collection) 

Aerotransportes Litoral Argentino (ALA) was founded in 1957 in Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina's third-largest city, to operate flights with four Aero Commander 680 Supers from Rosario (ROS) to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) and northern points.  In 1958, the carrier bought four C-47's from Panair do Brasil and added two more in 1959, the above pictured example being one of the latter.  Compania Austral de Transportes Aereos SACI purchased a 30% share of ALA in 1966 with the two airlines fully merging in 1971 to form the present-day Austral Lineas Aereas.

LV-GHZ was built and initially delivered to the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) on 14Jul44 as 43-48093 and went on to fly with a couple of smaller U.S. carriers and possibly Pan American World Airways as NC75737 before entering service with Mexicana de Aviacion as XA-GUJ on 28Jan48.

LV-GHZ was involved in a bizarre incident on 24Sep52 when a bomb was set to go off on a timer inflight with the objective of killing the 8 people on board and collecting life insurance on them. The bomb apparently went off but the scheme failed with no injuries. 

The aircraft went on to join ALA on 11Sep59 where it flew until 1969 and was involved in two incidents; in Catamarca (CTC) on 16Feb60 where it was partially damaged and at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) where it was involved in a ground collision with a De Havilland Dove on 11Sep67.  The aircraft's final days were spent in private ownership before it was withdrawn from use and scrapped in 1972. 

Sources:

http://loudandclearisnotenought.blogspot.com.ar/2010/04/lv-ghz-douglas-c-47a-30-dk-cn-25354.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral_Lineas_Aereas
http://aerospotter.blogspot.com.ar/2014/05/cuando-ala-presento-el-dc-3.html
La Historia de ALA, Segunda Parte: La Etapa Porteña by Marcelo W. Miranda y Pablo L. Potenze via uala.org.ar

ROUTE UPDATES: New Cordoba (COR), Rosario (ROS) & Salta (SLA) International Flights by Air Europa, Copa, LATAM Peru, Sky

Significant new international service from important cities of the Argentine interior has been or will soon be introduced.    

* LATAM Peru - Salta (SLA) - Lima (LIM) - eff 16Jun16

This new service from northwest Argentina is being operated 3x/weekly with A319's.  It is very convenient for travelers to/from the area because it allows them to fly to many international points via LATAM Peru's Lima (LIM) hub without first flying two hours southeast to Buenos Aires to make international connections there.        

* LATAM Peru - Rosario (ROS) - Lima (LIM) - eff 01Jul16

This new service operates 4x/weekly using A319's allowing "Rosarinos" to fly via LATAM's Lima (LIM) hub without driving fours hours southeast to Buenos Aires. 

* Copa Airlines - Rosario (ROS) - Panama City (PTY) - eff 01Jul16 

This city got lucky with significant northbound international service via major hubs starting on the same day.  Copa has started service to its Panama City (PTY) hub 4x/weekly with 737-800's enabling very convenient connections to Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and approx. 12 cities in the United States. 

Copa put stickers with the logos of Rosario's two major football (soccer) teams,
Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central, on one of its 737-800's to mark the occasion as noted in the Argentine blog Rollout Spotting:

http://aerospotter.blogspot.com.ar/2016/07/copa-con-canallas-y-leprosos.html

* Sky Airlines - Cordoba (COR) - Santiago (SCL) - eff 16Jul16 

The Chilean LCC is breaking the monopoly that LAN Airlines / LATAM Chile have had on this route during the last 15 years or so that resulted in airfares twice that of typical Buenos Aires - Santiago fares in spite of Cordoba - Santiago being half the distance !  Service will be operated 5x/weekly with A319's.

Air Europa A330-243, EC-LNH (c/n 551), in special Skyteam colors at Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) on 30Jun15.  (Phil Perry Photo)

* Air Europa - Cordoba (COR) - Asuncion (ASU) - Madrid (MAD) - eff 19Dec16

Cordoba (COR) regains service to Madrid (MAD) that it last had when Iberia discontinued serving the route on 19Jan12, which it had operated with A340-300's. 

Air Europa's new Madrid (MAD) service will be operated 4x/weekly with A330-200's.  
  
Sources:

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/253347/lanperu-plans-new-lima-routes-from-junejuly-2016/ via Eric Trum
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/253623/copa-airlines-adds-rosario-flights-from-july-2016/ via Eric Trum
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/254583/sky-airline-expands-argentina-service-from-july-2016/ via Eric Trum
http://aeropuertocordoba.blogspot.com.ar/2016/04/es-oficial-air-europa-volara-desde.html
http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2016/avn160505/avn-160505.html
http://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-a330-551.htm

Andes Lineas Aereas looking to acquire four A319's

Andes Lineas Aereas of Salta, Argentina is looking to replace its fleet of five active MD-80's with four A319's to enable it to operate Caribbean charters with the longer-range Airbus product (7,300km / 4,500 miles).

Andes flies a limited Argentine domestic network from its Salta (SLA) base in northwest Argentina and neighboring Jujuy (JUJ) to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) and Puerto Madryn (PMY) on the Atlantic coast of Patagonia.   However, perhaps its most important business is charters on behalf of sports teams, for student travel agency Travelrock (it has a logojet with the agency's markings on it) and seasonal tourist flights to Brazil and other beach destinations.

Source:

http://www.siscoma.com.ar/online/aviacion/2016/avn160630/avn-160630.html     

FLEET UPDATE: Austral's 25th Embraer 190, LV-GIK, arrived at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 28Jun16

Austral Lineas Aereas recently took delivery of its 25th Embraer 190, LV-GIK (c/n 190-00715), a factory-fresh aircraft which flew from Embraer's Sao Jose dos Campos (SJK) factory in Brazil to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) arriving on 28Jun16. 

Sources:

http://linea-ala.blogspot.com.ar/2016/06/llega-un-nuevo-avion-para-austral.html
http://aerospotter.blogspot.com.ar/2016/07/roll-out-n-313-fleet-list.html