Bolivia’s state-owned airline, Boliviana de Aviación, confirmed that as part of its fleet modernization plan it will incorporate two Airbus A330-200s and two Boeing 737-800s.
Its fleet currently consists of nine Boeing 737-300s with an average age of 26.3 years old, four Boeing 737-700s (20.7 years old), four Boeing 737-800s (20.3 years old), four Boeing 767-300ERs (27.2 years old), and two CRJ 200s (20.4 years old).
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Bolivia has a law, in force since August 16, 2011, that prohibits the incorporation of aircraft older than 25 years. Some Boliviana de Aviación (BoA) aircraft are close to or beyond that age, prompting it to replace them with more modern models.
The general manager of Boliviana de Aviaciones (BoA), Ronald Casso, announced that it will receive two Boeing 737-800s between April and May, which will have a capacity for 168 passengers and will replace the Boeing 737-300s.
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He also confirmed that they have selected the Airbus A330-200 as the aircraft to replace the Boeing 767. There will be three aircraft and they will begin to be delivered between July and August of this year, to enter service in October with flights to Miami (MIA) and Madrid (MAD).
“This type of aircraft will be replaced by new ones. The A330s have been selected, they are Airbus aircraft with very modern cabins and they will really allow us to make an important technological leap in the history of Bolivian aviation because we have never had that technology in Bolivia and it will obviously allow us to provide better quality service to our users on long-range routes,” said Ronald Casso.
Airbus A330s are no stranger to the Bolivian company. Between 2012 and 2013 it operated via wet-lease an Airbus A330-200 from HiFly, momentarily replacing the Boeing 767s that were undergoing scheduled maintenance.
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Currently, the airline’s international destinations include flights to Buenos Aires/Ezeiza (EZE), Argentina; Sao Paulo (GRU), Brazil; Miami (MIA), United States; Madrid (MAD), Spain; and Lima (LIM), Peru. They plan to open new links in the future, some of them to the Caribbean.
BoA is the main airline in the domestic market and has the following routes:
- Cochabamba (CBB) to/from: Cobija (CIJ), La Paz (LPB), Oruro (ORU), Potosí (POI), Sucre (SRE), Tarija (TJA), Trinidad (TDD) and Uyuni (UYU).
- Santa Cruz de la Sierra (VVI) to/from: Cobija (CIJ), Cochabamba (CBB), La Paz (LPB), Oruro (ORU), Sucre (SRE) and Tarija (TJA).
- La Paz (LPB) to/from: Cobija (CIJ), Sucre (SRE), Tarija (TJA), Trinidad (TDD) and Uyuni (UYU).
- Tarija (TJA) to/from: Yacuiba (BYC).
- Sucre (SRE) to/from: Tarija (TJA).
