Airline Name
LAPA/ARG/AIRG/Lapa1978-September 2001 livery (This is the one I think should be used),
ARG September 2001-May 2002 logo,
AIRG logo from May 2002-September 2002,
Lapa logo from September 2002-April 2003 and the final end (Notice the Aerosur colours),
IATA: MJ / ICAO: LPR / Callsign: LAPA
Country of Origin
Argentina
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
Beginning from the top,LAPA fleet,
B732 (737-200 Adv) (14 operated, 11 Adv/2C’s/1 -200),
At GRU in 2003 under Lapa (You can see the Lapa by the front door),
B737 (737-700) (9 operated),
B752 (757-200) (3 operated, 1 leased from Caledonian Airways in 1994-1995, 2 owned from 1995/1998-2001),
B763 (767-300) (1 operated),
SF34 (Saab 340) (2 operated),
Not in-game,
SH36 (Short 360) (2 operated),
ARG,
B732 (737-200 Adv) (6 operated),
Red livery,
Blue livery,
B737 (737-700) (8 operated) (All continued to wear the old livery),
AIRG had no new livery (6 B732 operated, 4 B737 operated).
Lapa livery (Only B732 at this point),
B732 (737-200Adv) (6 operated),
Repainted ARG red,
Repainted ARG blue,
Why should this airline be added?
LAPA (Líneas Aéreas Privadas Argentinas, literally translating to Private Argentine Air Lines) was founded in 1977, flying within Buenos Aires Province. It became the first South American operator of the Saab 340 in 1987, followed by acquiring its first jet aircraft in 1993 with the 737-200Adv. It continued to expand, leasing a 757-200 from Caledonian in 1994 and then purchasing leasing a 757-200 from ILFC in 1995, followed by a second in 1998, both serving until mid-late 2001, coinciding with a new owner. A 767-300 was leased in 1999 from ILFC to expand the airlines routes into North America, to Atlanta, the Dominican Republic and Cancun specifically, as well as 9 new 737-700’s to replace the ageing 737-200’s.In September 2001, the airline was purchased by an Argentine billionaire who changed the recognisable LAPA to ARG, standing for ARG Argentina Línea Privada. 2 aircraft were repainted, one into red and one into blue, with the 757 and 767 in the fleet being disposed of due to the Argentine economic crisis. The name was yet again changed to AIRG due to ARG being the ICAO for Aérolineas Argentinas which had an issue with the airline name due to potential confusion. In August 2002, less than a year after the airline’s acquisition by billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian, it was purchased from him by a group of Argentine investors and Aerosur who renamed it back to Lapa to keep the brand name alive and hopefully increase traffic.
In April 2003, the airline declared bankruptcy due to the recession and fallout from a fatal accident in August 1999 which had a lot of controversy surrounding it, plus changing the recognisable name during one of the worst financial recessions in Argentine history didn’t help.
It would make for an excellent addition, having a fleet past the 2000 mark of which all aircraft are in or are shortly to be in the game, with a snazzy livery and types which are rare to find in South America. It was a regular visitor to GRU and SCL throughout the decade it had jet aircraft and would really be a pleasure to have as a regular contract airline with 732/737/752’s at those South American airports and the B752 and B763 visiting North America, with the latter having range for Europe too. It could be a great one to implement with the pushing back of the 2010 rule as well, might be me just being cheeky though
. There are so many great airlines locked out which could easily fit a modern day airport or even more so the kind of 2010 airport I like to run at my airports and this would be a great one to have.
