ARPA - Aerolíneas Paraguayas was an airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 with its headquarters on the grounds of Silvio Pettirossi International Airport

Silvio Pettirossi International Airport

-Incidents and accidents:*3 December 1945: an USAAF Douglas C-47B-5-DK registration 43-48602 flying from Asunción to Montevideo crashed 16km SE of Carlos Pellegrini, Argentina...

 in Luque

Luque

Luque is a city in Central Department, Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. It is located at around . It is the location of the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport for Asunción and the headquarters of CONMEBOL...

, Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

, near Asunción

Asunción

Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...

. It operated scheduled domestic services. Its main base was Silvio Pettirossi International Airport.

Code data

• IATA
  International Air Transport Association
  The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
  
   Code: A8
• ICAO Code: PAY
• Callsign: ARPA

History

Aerolíneas Paraguayas (also known as ARPA) was founded in 1994. The inauguration ceremony took place at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport on May 14, 1994. The first regular flights took place on May 16, 1994. The original fleet was composed of three Cessna A208 Caravan 1. ARPA was the first investment of the TAM Group in Paraguay.

At the beginning, ARPA had flights to the most important cities in Paraguay, like Ciudad del Este, Pedro Juan Caballero, Concepción and Encarnación. Eventually, it also flew to Ayolas and Filadelfia (Chaco). In 1995, ARPA received a Cessna Citation II jet to compete with LADESA (Líneas Aéreas del Este S.A.) BAe Jetstream 31s which also covered the route to Ciudad del Este.

Some routes were discontinued due to the poor passenger traffic. By the late 1990s, ARPA was only flying to Ciudad del Este regularly. In the early 2000s, ARPA operated a single Cessna A208 Caravan 1 and a Cessna 208B Gran Caravan.

In December 2002, ARPA was merged with TAM-Mercosur. The two Caravans continued operations with TAM and were withdrawn from service a year later.

Services

ARPA operated daily services from Asunción to Ciudad del Este

Ciudad del Este

Ciudad del Este is the second largest city in Paraguay and capital of Alto Paraná department, located at the Rio Paraná....

 (later operated by TAM Mercosur

TAM Mercosur

TAM Airlines, also known as Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur S.A., formerly known as TAM Mercosur and LAP , is the flag carrier and the national airline of Paraguay with its headquarters in Asunción, Paraguay...

) and Pedro Juan Caballero

Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay

Pedro Juan Caballero is a city in Paraguay, located in Amambay Department of which it is the capital. The city lies on the border with the Brazilian city of Ponta Porã in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and is known as a centre for cheap electronic and consumer goods, and also as a centre for drug...

(ceased).

Fleet

• 3 Cessna A208 Caravan 1 (leased)
• 2 Cessna 208B Gran Caravan (leased)
• 2 Cessna 550 Citation II (leased)