Uruguay may soon have a new national airline if plans outlined by a startup called Sociedad Uruguaya de Aviación (SUA) come to fruition.
This new airline project was publicly unveiled during the “Fitur” international travel trade show, which took place in Madrid, Spain, on January 22-26, 2025.
While most details about the planned operation will be disclosed on January 28, 2025, at an event that will take place at Carrasco International Airport (MVD), in Montevideo, SUA has disclosed that it aims to launch operations with Airbus A220 aircraft wet-leased from airBaltic.
If confirmed, SUA will become the first airline to use A220 aircraft in Latin America. The airline’s business plan calls for a fleet of six A220s within the first 18 months of operation. This figure would then increase to ten aircraft within a period of three years. Plans are also afoot to create the first maintenance and training center for this type of aircraft in Latin America.
According to Latin American aviation news site Aviacionline.com, the founder of SUA is Antonio Rama, a Qatar Airways B777 captain. Rama, who appears to have secured Saudi capital for the new venture, already has experience setting up an airline from scratch. He founded U-Air, an Uruguayan low-cost airline that operated briefly between 2003 and 2005.
Uruguay has lacked a national carrier since 2013, when historical flag carrier Pluna was liquidated. Other attempts to establish some sort of national carrier have also been short-lived. For example, ferry operator Buquebus set up a carrier called “BQB Líneas Aéreas”, which operated between 2010 and 2015 and Bolivian carrier Amaszonas also operated some flights out of Uruguay before being also wound up in 2023.
As of January 2025 air connectivity in Uruguay is provided entirely by foreign carriers, such as LATAM, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Azul, JetSmart and Avianca.
