Línea Aérea Amaszonas

Línea Aérea Amaszonas

IATA ICAO Callsign Z8 AZN AMASZONAS
Founded	1998
Commenced operations	2000
Hubs	El Alto International Airport
Focus cities	Viru Viru International Airport
Fleet size	7
Destinations	12
Headquarters	La Paz, Bolivia
Key people	Sergio de Urioste (General manager)
Website	amaszonas.com

Línea Aérea Amaszonas S.A., usually shortened to Amaszonas,^{[note 1]} is an airline based in Bolivia, headquartered in La Paz.^[1] It operates scheduled and chartered short-haul passenger flights throughout the northern and northeastern regions of the country as well as to neighboring Peru, with its network's hub being located at El Alto International Airport.

History

The company was founded on 1 October 1998, but flight services were only commenced in 2000.^[2] Initially, Amaszonas operated chartered flights using a small fleet of turboprop airliners of the types Cessna 208 Caravan and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner.^[3] In 2012, following the demise of AeroSur, five Bombardier CRJ200 were acquired from Avmax Aircraft Leasing Inc. in order to launch scheduled passenger services.^[4] The first one of these 50-seat jet aircraft was put in service in late August on the La Paz-Santa Cruz de la Sierra route.^[4][5]

In late 2014 Amaszonas announced it would lease 9 CRJ200 aircraft to expand its regional network and intended to fly to up to 40 destinations by 2017.^[6]

Purchase of BQB Líneas Aéreas

In 2015 the Bolivian airline closed buying the Uruguayan BQB Líneas Aéreas 5 days after the company shut down its operations due to a crisis that began in 2014. From 4 May, the airline takes over the routes operated by BQB before the closure of operations, which are Buenos Aires and Silvio Pettirossi International Airport.^[7]

Subsidiaries

• Amaszonas Paraguay^[8]
• Amaszonas Uruguay^[9]

Destinations

As of September 2016, Amaszonas offers scheduled flights to the following destinations:^[10]

Fleet

An Amaszonas Bombardier CRJ200.

The Amaszonas fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):^[11]

Interline Agreements

As of April 2014, Amaszonas has interline agreements with the following airlines:

• Aerocon
• Air Europa
• Copa Airlines
• Star Peru

Incidents

An Amaszonas Cessna 208 Caravan at El Alto International Airport (2004).

• On 10 July 2001 at 16:47 local time, the two pilots of an Amaszonas Cessna 208 Caravan (registered CP-2395) carrying eleven passengers had to execute an emergency landing on a hill near Viacha, six minutes into a flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque, due to an engine problem. When hitting the ground, the aircraft turned over and was destroyed, but all persons on board survived.^[12]
• On 25 January 2005 at around 10:00 local time, another Amaszonas Caravan (registered CP-2412) crash-landed, this time near Colquiri. The aircraft with two pilots and ten passengers on board had been on a chartered flight from La Paz to Sucre, when it encountered atmospheric icing conditions, thus being unable to maintain height. There were no fatalities, but as a consequence, Amaszonas was stripped of the allowance to operate Caravans on passenger flights.^[13]
• On 27 February 2011 at 15:10 local time, an Amaszonas Fairchild Metro 23 (registered CP-2473) ^[14] was substantially damaged when the left landing gear collapsed upon landing at El Alto International Airport. The aircraft carrying six passengers and two crew members had been on a scheduled flight from San Borja to Rurrenabaque when problems with the undercarriage occurred, leading the pilots to divert to La Paz. All persons on board survived the ensuing crash landing.^[15]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (English)
• Official website (Spanish)

Airlines of Bolivia
Current	Amaszonas Boliviana de Aviación EcoJet (airline) LaMia Transportes Aéreos Bolivianos TAM – Transporte Aéreo Militar
Defunct	Aerocon AeroSur Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Northeast Bolivian Airways