Rio-Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais S/A was a regional

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

headquartered in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

,"World Airline Directory." ''Flight International''. March 30, 1985
112
" Retrieved on July 23, 2009. operating scheduled services to southern Brazil. Its main base was Congonhas Domestic Airport (CGH),

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

, with hubs at

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...

Airport (POA) and Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro.

History

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 Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and parts of the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

regions of Brazil, specifically the states of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a state in the southern region of Brazil. It is the fifth-most-populous state and the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is border ...

, Santa Catarina, Paraná,

, and parts of

, and

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

. The airline was originally formed by Top Táxi Aéreo, Bradesco Bank, Atlântica-Boavista Insurance, and

Varig VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went ...

. In 2002 the administration of Rio Sul (which included its former subsidiary Nordeste) were merged with

. 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 Flex Linhas Aéreas, styled as FLEX, was a Brazilian non-regular charter airline based at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport. It is the brand name of Nordeste Linhas Aéreas S.A., judicial successor of former Viação Aérea Rio-Grande ...

. As a result of accumulated debts around BRL10 billion (US$5,7 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.

Services

Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais operated services to the following scheduled domestic destinations (at January 2005):

Caxias do Sul Caxias do Sul (), is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. It was established by Italian immigrants on June 20, 1890. Today it is the second largest city in the state of Rio Grand ...

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

Londrina Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and fourth largest in the southern regi ...

Maringá Maringá () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, with 385,753 inhabitants in the city proper, and 764 ...

Passo Fundo Passo Fundo is a municipality in the north of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is named after its river. It's the twelfth largest city in the state with an estimated population of 204,722 inhabitants living in a total munici ...

and Vitória.

Historical Fleet

The Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Incidents and accidents

According to the

Aviation Safety Network The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is an independent, nonprofit, international organization concerning research, education, advocacy, and communications in the field of aviation safety. FSF brings together aviation professionals from all sectors ...

's database, Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais has never experienced a fatal accident in its 26-year-history, though four hull-losses have occurred: * On May 22, 1982, an

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max ...

(registration PT-GKC) crashed into a

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fre ...

short of Hercílio Luz International Airport, due to poor visibility. All four people on board survived. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off. * On August 6, 1984, a

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Eur ...

(registration PT-LCZ) over shot the runway at Santos Dumont Airport. All seven occupants survived, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off. * On July 25, 1987, an

(registration PT-GKT) overshot the runway at Santo Angelo Airport. All 13 passengers and crew survived, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off. * On December 29, 1998, Rio Sul Flight 310, an

Embraer ERJ-145 The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet, model names EMB-135, EMB-140 and EMB-145) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passenger ...

(registration PT-SPE), was damaged beyond repair when it made a hard landing at

Afonso Pena International Airport Afonso Pena International Airport is the main airport serving Curitiba, Brazil, located in the adjoining municipality of São José dos Pinhais. It is named after Afonso Pena (1847–1909), the 6th President of Brazil. It is operated by CCR. ...

. All 40 passengers and crew on board survived. Investigators determined that engine power had been reduced just before landing. The aircraft was written off. * On December 17, 2001, a

Boeing 737-500 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

(registration PT-SSI) operating a scheduled passenger flight from

undershot runway 16 at Tancredo Neves International Airport by as a result of adverse weather conditions. There were no fatalities. Despite substantial damage, the aircraft was repaired and returned to service. However, nearly 12 years later, exactly the same aircraft would crash in Russia, killing everyone on board.

References

Bibliography

External links

Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos RegionaisArchive
(1998–2000)

(1997)
Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais

Archive
(1998–2000)

(1997)
Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais Fleet Detail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Sul Servicos Aereos Regionais Varig Defunct airlines of Brazil Airlines established in 1976 Airlines disestablished in 2002 1976 establishments in Brazil Former Star Alliance affiliate members