Alas Uruguay (Montevideo Carrasco) has secured USD15million in funding from the Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay to lease three B737-300s ahead of its launch. During a Q&A session in the Uruguayan senate, Minister of Economy and Finance, Fernando Lorenzo, said the funds had already been approved and deposited with the National Development Corporation (Corporación Nacional para el Desarrollo). He added that processing of the airline's relevant licences and authorizations would be expedited in order to fast track its launch, originally scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year. Backed by former employees from the now defunct national carrier, PLUNA (Montevideo Carrasco), Alas Uruguay had looked to buy three ex-PLUNA CRJ900s only for the plan to be scrapped when a Montevideo court ruling suspended a loan that had been previously approved by the national development fund, FONDES.