Alas Uruguay (Montevideo Carrasco) has deferred its planned launch date to May 2015 with its first aircraft, a B737-300 UR-GAN (msn 28569) leased from Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kyiv Boryspil), now scheduled to arrive next month.
Responding to queries over the carrier's protracted launch phase, Uruguay's Minister of Labour and Social Security, José Bayardi, told the country's parliament last week that unemployment benefits for the start-up's 180-strong workforce, made up of mostly ex-PLUNA (Montevideo Carrasco) employees, would not be extended indefinitely. Since its inception last year, Alas Uruguay has struggled to make it out of the starting blocks largely due to funding as well as regulatory obstacles.
At present, he said, the carrier's pilots are undergoing type certification having previously flown PLUNA's former fleet of CRJ900s.
Initial services will be limited to charter flights while scheduled services will include Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini, Santiago de Chile, Asuncion, São Paulo Guarulhos and Rio de Janeiro International initially with Santa Cruz Viru Viru, Lima International, and Caracas Simón Bolivar to follow thereafter.
