Operational plans are slowly evolving for Sociedad Uruguaya de Aviación Aereas Lineas (SUA), which will be the South American nation’s first flag-carrier since the demise of state-owned PLUNA in 2012.
SUA plans to operate services with leased airBaltic Airbus A220-300s, which the new airline believes to be “an excellent fit for our operational model.”
Initially, the aircraft will fly to three nations in the south of the continent – Argentina, Chile and Paraguay – plus the region’s behemoth, Brazil.
The Uruguayan government hopes that the establishment of a new Uruguayan national carrier will help attract more inbound tourism from around the continent.
SUA will initially focus on Carrasco International Airport, which serves the capital, Montevideo.
Currently, said SUA’s chief commercial and marketing officer, Raul Rodriguez, refurbishment projects are underway at several regional Uruguayan airports and SUA is studying plans to operate from some of them.
The aircraft provided by airBaltic will be operated on an ACMI basis, but SUA plans also to operate some aircraft in dry lease mode; the latter will carry full SUA livery, while the wet-leased aircraft will have more modest stickers to indicate SUA’s use.
The Latvian airline has stated that it will supply “up to five” aircraft to start SUA services; Rodriguez said that flights will initially begin with four aircraft, increasing to six within the first year of operations.
The airBaltic link is likely to be a long-term arrangement, he added, because of the shortage of available aircraft in the market.
The new airline aims to start operations in Q4 2025 but this will depend on when the Uruguayan aviation authorities grant an AOC. Additionally, SUA is “still open to increase capital” from investors.
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