On the night of Thursday, June 30, the first regular passenger flight was made on a plane from the airline Aerolinhas Brasileiras SA, better known as ABSA. The company, which is part of the LATAM group and works only with merchandise, Added to its fleet, end of last year, Airbus A320 Registration number PR-MHW (MSN 3630).
The “opening” flight is a Latin American flight with number LA-3106, on the route between Congonhas, in São Paulo, and Goiania. At the time of writing this post, the plane was crossing the interior of the state of São Paulo, As shown by flight tracking platform Radarbox (Click to continue).
A320 for ABSA
Documents seen by AEROIN last year recently confirm that the aircraft bears the ABSA name. In the Brazilian Aviation Register (RAB), it is also stated that the aircraft is in the company’s fleet of cargo assets. However, the reason why Latam moved an aircraft to ABSA is not clear.
In previous contacts, Latam declined to give details of why the plane had been moved. Last year, as the pandemic bled companies’ cash flow, there were rumors that Latam would transfer planes to the ABSA name and hire pilots for it, in order to sign less “onerous” work contracts. However, this information is not confirmed by the company, neither a yes nor a refusal.
At the time, the Latin company was trying to cut costs by permanently reducing the salaries of crew members, but the proposal was rejected in negotiation with the National Aeronautics Federation.
unusual ways
Months after the above episode, Latam transferred an Airbus A320 PR-MHW to ABSA. At that moment, the plane’s Latam paint was removed in São Paulo, and the all-white plane flew to Chile, where it stayed for about 10 days, before returning to Brazil via Fortaleza, and later, São Carlos, in the interior of São Paulo..
On June 22 this year, Wednesday, the plane Leave the company maintenance area in San Carlos, after seven monthsAnd landed in Guarulhos to head after hours to Uruguay. He stayed a day in the neighboring country, traveled to Fortaleza and then to Congonhas, in São Paulo, where he has been since June 24. Interestingly enough, the same paint job he was working on before has been replaced.
The round-trip of aircraft, although not explained by LATAM, may be related to bureaucratic issues related to aircraft ownership exchange and nationalization. This is because the destinations are well known among those who accompany or work in the field of aviation.
Uruguay, known for its low taxeshas offices for representatives of leasing companies and can be used as a port of check-in for aircraft while saving thousands or millions of dollars in taxes and fees. castle turnas the first stopping point for Latam aircraft for customs operations and nationalization of aircraft.
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