In mid-May 2019, Avianca Brasil, which in the past was founded as OceanAir, suspended its operations. A company that was in development, plunged into a crisis without reversal.
OceanAir operated 28 aircraft, including the Dutch Fokker 50, Fokker 100, operated international routes with Boeing 757 and 767 and at the end of BRA leased a Boeing 737 from the company that was ending operations.
Later on, the company simplified the fleet and only had Fokker 100 aircraft (MK-28 as it was known in the company), and even operated 16 units of the model.
In 2010 there was a transition of brands from OceanAir to Avianca Brasil. In 2014 the company adopted a new visual identity and started to standardize its fleet with planes, Airbus gradually retiring the Fokker 100 with the arrival of new aircraft.
With the company's growth, in 2015 it became part of Star Alliance, the world's largest alliance of airlines, and in 2017 it began operating its first international destinations.
At the end of 2018, the company entered a crisis and filed for judicial recovery at the 1st Bankruptcy and Judicial Reorganization Court of São Paulo. Since then, the aircraft leasing companies have filed a court order prohibiting 11 aircraft from flying due to non-payment.
From then on, it snowballed, and the company stopped due to non-payment of aircraft leasing. Avianca made several attempts at various agreements with leasing companies, but without success and aircraft began to be returned until the company's total stoppage.
And today, where do the planes that were part of this story fly?
The first aircraft to leave the fleet were the Airbus A320neo, which Azul Linhas Aéreas soon closed the contract with the same Leasing company BOC and GECAS that supplied all the brand new A320s to Azul.
In addition to the A320neo, the Brazilian company leased an A320ceo, former PR-ONW, which gained registration PR-AJE and the A330-200 former PR-OCJ which gained the prefix PR-AIS. These two aircraft received a hybrid livery (almost complete), just to reinforce the fleet in the high season.
When Avianca Brasil decided to stop the Airbus A320-214 fleet, Aircastle rented a space in São Carlos in the LATAM maintenance hangar, so the company ended up leasing 14 units of the model equipped with Sharklets and a configuration for 162 engers to reinforce its fleet.
In addition to the 26 aircraft that still fly in Brazil, other aircraft went to the Phoenix Desert in Arizona, where they were stored for a period, then were transferred to other companies around the world.
Let's check it out below:
Allegiant Air leased three Airbus A320-214 aircraft that flew with Avianca Brasil under registrations PR-AVP, PR-AVR and PR-AVU.
The PR-AVB, PR-AVC, PR-AVD and PR-AVQ planes headed to the Desert in Marana and Phoenix, where they remain stocked to this day (pictures above).
The Airbus A319-115, which Avianca flew as PR-ONJ, currently flies with Myanmar Airways International, a Myanmar company located on the Asian continent that borders India.
Four Airbus A320-214s, two of them equipped with Sharklets, which were ed with Avianca as PR-ONK, PR-ONL, PR-ONS and PR-ONT, currently fly with Austrian Airlines, during the pandemic they were stocked and are gradually flying back.
Still without a defined operator, three Airbus A320-214 aircraft are still available with GECAS. These planes have the following registrations: Ex-PR-ONX – VQ-BXQ / Ex-PR-ONZ – VQ-BXR / Ex-PR-OCA – VQ-BXT
The PR-ONY was delivered to Avianca Argentina some time before going into crisis, the aircraft flew with the prefix LV-HVS and soon after the Brazilian company stopped part of the fleet and suspended operations. The Argentine subsidiary decided to close operations also due to the financial crisis, currently there are no records of the aircraft in another company.
The Ex-PR-O was the only aircraft handed over to EasyJet currently flying under the OE-ICZ registration.
When Avianca Brasil decided to enter the international market, Avianca Colombia transferred the N974AV to fly in Brazil as PR-OBS, with the interruptions in operations it returned to fly in Colombia with the same registration as before (pictured above).
PR-OCG won a "luxury life", his new home is the French Air Force, he will be the replacement for the Airbus A310 that make the VIP transport of the French presidency. We still don't know what your license plate will be, and the aircraft is still in the final process of standardization for presidential transport.
Until the closing of this article, the two Airbus A330-203 registrations PR-OCK and PR-OCX were out of operation. There are no records of where they are currently stored, but the latest information we obtained talks about the presence of the two planes with the Synergy Group.
Article by: Ídear Roberto in collaboration for Portal Aeroflap
