Austral Líneas Aéreas

Infobox_Airline
airline=Austral
logo=austral-logo.pnglogo_size=130
fleet_size=22
destinations=30
IATA=AU
ICAO=AUT
callsign=AUSTRAL
parent=Interinvest
founded=1971
headquarters=Buenos Aires, Argentina
hubs=Jorge Newbery Airport
frequent_flyer=Aerolíneas Plus
lounge=VIP Lounge
key_people=Gonzalo Pascual & Gerardo Díaz (Marsans)(CEO)
alliance=
website= http://www.austral.com.ar

Austral Líneas Aereas is an airline based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the sister company of Aerolíneas Argentinas and is the second largest domestic scheduled airline in Argentina. Its main base is Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Airescite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work= Flight International | page= 80 | date= 2007-03-27] .

History

The airline was established in June 1971 from the merger of Austral Compañía Argentina de Transportes Aéreos and Aerotransportes Litoral Argentino (ALA). At that time its fleet consisted on NAMC YS-11 turboprop and BAC One-Eleven jet liners.It was acquired by Cielos del Sur, a holding company, in 1987. Following the privatisation of Aerolíneas Argentinas in 1990, Cielos del Sur and Iberia both took holdings, but these have since been disposed of. In 2001 Grupo Marsans acquired a majority holding.

On 21 July 2008, the Argentine government took the airline back into state control after acquiring 99.4% of the share capital for an undisclosed price. The remaining 0.6% continues to be owned by the company's employees [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7519069.stm]

On 3 September 2008 Argentina's Senate approved the nationalization of Aerolíneas Argentinas and its subsidiary Austral Líneas Aéreas on a 46-21 vote in favor of the takeover. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/04/business/LA-Argentina-Airline-Nationalization.php International Herald Tribune] ]

Incidents and accidents

The worst crash in Austral's history is Flight 2553, which occurred in October 1997 when a Douglas DC-9-32 registration LV-WEG crashed near Fray Bentos, Uruguay traveling from Posadas to Buenos Aires as AU2553. [cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19971010-0&lang=en|title=Aviation Safety Network]

Fleet

The Austral Líneas Aéreas fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 29 August 2008) [http://www.ch-aviation.ch/aircraft.php?search=set&airline=AU&al_op=1] :

*1 McDonnell Douglas MD-81
*1 McDonnell Douglas MD-82
*12 McDonnell Douglas MD-83
*8 McDonnell Douglas MD-88 (three aicraft are leased from Aeroméxico)

As of 29 August 2008, the average age of the Austral Líneas Aéreas fleet is 18 years ( [ [http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/Austral.htm Airfleets.net] ] ).

External links

* [http://www.austral.com.ar Austral Líneas Aéreas]

References

See also

*List of BAC One-Eleven operators
*List of NAMC YS-11 operators