OAG Travel News

In my last entry I wrote about air service in Mongolia – a vast, landlocked country with limited air service.  Following the same theme, I’m turning this week to air service Paraguay and Bolivia – combined these countries are as vast as Mongolia and are the only two landlocked countries in South America.

With a population of 6.2 million, the entire country of Paraguay averages 20 daily scheduled commercial flights – 10 departures and 10 arrivals.  Only two of these flights do not touch the capital of Asuncion.

The largest carrier in Paraguay is TAM Mercosur, 95 percent owned by Brazilian carrier TAM Linhas Aéreas (TAM) with the remaining 5 percent resting with the Paraguayan government.  TAM is the largest carrier in Paraguay and therefore the largest carrier at Asuncion, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all the city’s flights.  Nonstop destinations include the major South American cities of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  In addition, TAM provides service from Asuncion to Ciudad del Este – Paraguay’s only domestic air service.

Other carriers providing competing service to Asuncion include Aerolineas Argentinas (Buenos Aires), Bolivia-based Aerosur (Santa Cruz) and Brazil-based Gol (Buenos Aires).  In addition, passengers can travel nonstop from Asuncion to Corrientes, Argentina (Aerolineas Argentinas); and Curitiba, Brazil (Gol).

With only two daily scheduled commercial flights, Ciudad del Este is the second-largest airport in Paraguay.  TAM operates service from Ciudad del Este to Asuncion and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
 
For 15 years Asuncion enjoyed one-stop service to Miami via Sao Paulo on American Airlines.  But this service was discontinued in 2005 because, according to American, the service was not profitable.  In fact, Paraguayan air service has declined by over 20 percent since 2003.  Paraguayan cities Concepcion and Vallemi also enjoyed nonstop scheduled commercial air service in past years, but those days are, unfortunately, in the past.

Paraguay borders Bolivia, the only other landlocked country in South America.  With a population of 9.1 million and more than double the land area of Paraguay, Bolivia’s air service is much more robust than that of its neighbor.  15 airports in Bolivia enjoy scheduled commercial flights.  In fact, international air service in Bolivia totals more than the all daily flights in Paraguay.  Domestic service within Bolivia accounts for nearly three-quarters of the country’s total flights. 

The largest airport in Bolivia in terms of daily flights is located outside the capital of La Paz.  With service to three cities in neighboring Chile and Peru, Miami, and six domestic destinations, the El Alto International Airport enjoys nearly 40 daily flights.  Interestingly, el alto is Spanish for “the height” – an appropriate name for one of the world’s highest airports.  Situated at an elevation of over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), the elevation and associated thin air is a limiting factor for La Paz in terms of air service.

The second-largest airport in Bolivia and the only other airport with international flights is Santa Cruz.  In fact, Santa Cruz is the largest international airport in Bolivia with nonstop service not only to several major cities in South America, but to Miami (Aerosur and American) as well as to Madrid (Aerosur and Air Comet).  Five domestic destinations are served from Santa Cruz.

Five years ago, the country’s largest carrier was flag-carrier Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB), accounting for over half of Bolivia’s domestic and international air service.  However, LAB was grounded in early 2007 due to financial difficulties and since that time several other carriers have filled in many of the gaps left by LAB.  The largest airline in Bolivia today is privately held Aerosur, accounting for half of the country’s international flights and over 40 percent of domestic flights.  The second-largest airline in Bolivia is Amaszonas, a domestic airline headquartered in La Paz that did not even operate scheduled service five years ago.  Foreign-flag carriers including American, TAM Mercosur, Lan, Taca, Gol and Aerolineas Argentinas also provide service to La Paz and Santa Cruz.

As a result of the shift in carrier market share, domestic air service in Bolivia has increased by more than 50 percent over the past five years, and six cities have gained domestic air service.  However, over this same period, international air service has declined by 25 percent.  Cochabamba lost its only international connection with Buenos Aires.  Other cities previously served by LAB have not since been picked up by other airlines.  These cities include Mexico City, Mexico; Panama City, Panama; Caracas, Venezuela; Bogota, Colombia; Manaus, Brazil; and Cuzco, Peru.

Air service is a reflection of a variety of factors – including, but not limited to – population, per capita income, business activity, tourism attractions and geography.  These two countries were originally chosen based on one simple commonality – the fact that they are landlocked countries in South America.  But as the air service profiles for Paraguay and Bolivia show, their similarities end there.  The vastly different levels of air service activity give us a small glimpse into two very unique countries.

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes for October for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008; includes only scheduled commercial service filed with OAG; Reuters; Air Transport Intelligence.

Story By: Laura Jackson.

OAG contributor Laura Jackson was just two weeks old when she took her first flight on Piedmont Airlines.  In junior high school, she developed a business plan for her own airline.  Today she manages strategy and policy issues at one of the world's busiest airports and provides original content and aviation industry analysis for OAG.