Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais
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| Founded | 1976 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 2002 | ||||||
| Hubs |
Congonhas Domestic Airport Salgado Filho Int'l Airport Santos Dumont Airport |
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| Frequent-flyer program | Smiles | ||||||
| Fleet size | 10 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||||||
| Website | voeriosul.com.br rio-sul.com/home.htm |
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Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais was a regional airline headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, operating scheduled services to southern Brazil. Its main base was Congonhas Domestic Airport (CGH), São Paulo, with hubs at Porto Alegre Airport (POA) and Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro.
On November 11, 1975 the Brazilian Federal Government created the Brazilian Integrated System of Regional Air Transportation and divided the country in five different regions, for which five newly created regional airlines received a concession to operate air services. RIO-SUL Serviços Aéreos Regionais S/A was the fourth of those regional airlines to be made operational. Founded on August 24, 1976, Rio Sul had its services start on September 8, 1976. Its operational area comprised roughly the Southern and parts of the Southeast regions of Brazil, specifically the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, and parts of São Paulo, and Espírito Santo.
The airline was originally formed by Top Táxi Aéreo, Bradesco Bank, Atlântica-Boavista Insurance, and Varig.
In 1992 the National Conference of Civil Aviation abolished the geographical division of the country and allowed further expansion in national and regional routes, prompting Rio Sul to acquire Nordeste Linhas Aéreas Regionais in 1995. It was then owned by Varig Participações em Transportes Aéreos (VPTA).
In 2002 the administration of Rio Sul (which included its former subsidiary Nordeste) were merged with Varig. The brand Rio Sul was part of the assets sold as VRG Linhas Aéreas although its debts remained under the judicial entity Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense, which uses the brand name Flex Linhas Aéreas. As a result of accumulated debts around BRL10 billion (USD5,7 billion, EUR4,5 billion), on August 20, 2010, at the request of the administrator, the 1st Business Court of Rio de Janeiro declared Flex, which included remaining assets of Rio-Sul, bankrupt and initiated the process of liquidation.
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