Post by Pinatubo on Sep 14th, 2011 at 3:10pm
Some facts about the defunct VASP:
VASP was a brazilian airline established in 1933 by the state government of São Paulo and who was privatized in 1990. Under the command of its new owner, VASP quickly expanded operations in the country, and created international routes to south and north america, europe, africa and asia, becoming the second brazilian company to do so after 1965.
However, after many years of mismanagement, financial losses, soaring debt and bad credit, in 2002 it cancelled all of its international operations and sold its long haul airliners (MD-11), to concentrate in the domestic market. By that time, VASP had plummeted from the second to the fourth position in the Brazilian airline market, flying an aged fleet of Boeing 737, most of them of the obsolete (200 series), and Airbus A300.
As of December 2007, the company's only activity was providing maintenance services to other airlines, despite of all of VASP's troubles, its maintenance expertise and personnel never ceased to be held in very high regard. It had been operating under the new brazilian bankruptcy law since July 2006, and had its recovery plan approved in 2006. However, in 2008 it declared bankruptcy.
In August 2011, nine of the company's planes, seven Boeing 737-200 and two Airbus A300, grounded at Congonhas Airport (SBSP) since 2005 and by now badly weathered and dilapidated, began to be dismantled and sold for scrap at auction. Each plane in its current condition was estimated to be worth only approximately US$ 20,000 to 33,000, considerably less than even its monthly parking and storage fees. The company's fleet of a total of 27 planes had been grounded in similar circumstances since 2005 at various brazilian airports, most of them at SBSP and SBEG.
Nowadays, it's sad to see a former brazilian one proud airline, changed to scrap. :'(
PS1: The pic posted by NNewcomb is a remote parking area of SBEG in the amazon region.
PS2: In june 1995 I flew on a VASP MD-11, a non-stop flight from Rio de Janeiro to Los Angeles (11 hours and 30 minutes).
The old and good times:
VASP was a brazilian airline established in 1933 by the state government of São Paulo and who was privatized in 1990. Under the command of its new owner, VASP quickly expanded operations in the country, and created international routes to south and north america, europe, africa and asia, becoming the second brazilian company to do so after 1965.
However, after many years of mismanagement, financial losses, soaring debt and bad credit, in 2002 it cancelled all of its international operations and sold its long haul airliners (MD-11), to concentrate in the domestic market. By that time, VASP had plummeted from the second to the fourth position in the Brazilian airline market, flying an aged fleet of Boeing 737, most of them of the obsolete (200 series), and Airbus A300.
As of December 2007, the company's only activity was providing maintenance services to other airlines, despite of all of VASP's troubles, its maintenance expertise and personnel never ceased to be held in very high regard. It had been operating under the new brazilian bankruptcy law since July 2006, and had its recovery plan approved in 2006. However, in 2008 it declared bankruptcy.
In August 2011, nine of the company's planes, seven Boeing 737-200 and two Airbus A300, grounded at Congonhas Airport (SBSP) since 2005 and by now badly weathered and dilapidated, began to be dismantled and sold for scrap at auction. Each plane in its current condition was estimated to be worth only approximately US$ 20,000 to 33,000, considerably less than even its monthly parking and storage fees. The company's fleet of a total of 27 planes had been grounded in similar circumstances since 2005 at various brazilian airports, most of them at SBSP and SBEG.
Nowadays, it's sad to see a former brazilian one proud airline, changed to scrap. :'(
PS1: The pic posted by NNewcomb is a remote parking area of SBEG in the amazon region.
PS2: In june 1995 I flew on a VASP MD-11, a non-stop flight from Rio de Janeiro to Los Angeles (11 hours and 30 minutes).
The old and good times:
