Paraguay

Paraguay beckons for bold airport investors

The Government of Paraguay has passed a bill to concession out the Asunción Silvio Pettirossi Airport, along with several of the country's regional airports. If approved by Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, the 30-year concession will require an estimated USD100 million investment, which seems to be a lot of money for a country that has widely been regarded as something of a backwater in Latin America.

Local unions are vehemently opposed to the concession and about 2,000 unionised airport workers are now planning to wage a 10-day strike at Asunción Airport. The strike is expected to start at end of this week and result in widespread delays and cancellations.

Paraguay is one of only two landlocked countries in South America, surrounded by Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. It famously fought Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay between 1864 and 1879 in The War of the Triple Alliance, leaving Paraguay with a population of only 200,000 and economic stagnation that lasted half a century. But Paraguay has undergone something of a political resurgence since the 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner came to an end in 1989, allowing for regular democratic presidential elections.

Palmair, one time world best airline, and the oldest tour operator in Britain, turns 50

Bournemouth (UK) based Palmair announced that it intends to suspend all services at Bournemouth Airport for the months of Nov-2010, Dec-2010 and Jan-2011, citing poor advance bookings for winter, but hopes to produce a reduced winter timetable from Feb-2011 onwards. Despite this temporary setback Palmair, which claims to be Britain’s oldest tour operator, is one of the industry’s survivors, having been in business as the ‘in-house’ airline of a travel agent and tour operator, Bath Travel, since 1958 – 52 years.

Gol-TAM: Two Strategies gain overwhelming success

A discussion about Brazilian – or even South American aviation – is incomplete without Gol, with its low-fare strategy, and TAM, with a legacy strategy complete with regional airline feeder in Pantanal and membership in Star Alliance. TAM’s measured and targeted growth contrasts, however, with Gol’s dramatic rise. Ironically, Gol was built on the remains of Varig, whose demise paved the way for the successful entrance of TAM.

Airline alliances in Latin America provoking major changes. How TAM helps Star

Despite strong growth in several markets, Latin America’s aviation scene is in flux—perhaps more so than any other geographic region on the globe. Political and economic instability have been rampant across the region and continue to be a part of the 21st century landscape. The latest difficulties have been manifest as political unrest in Venezuela and continuing economic turmoil in Argentina, to name just two.