Four BAe 146s are shown parked at TAM’s base at El Alto airport, alongside a variety of other aircraft, in November 2016 (Google Earth)
The Bolivian government has once again extended the deadline for Transporte Aéreo Militar (TAM) to restructure itself from a military unit to a civil state enterprise. The latest deadline, 31 January, was itself an extension of the previous 16 December 2016 deadline. With TAM still not ready to become a civil-certified airline, a new decree was issued granting it a further 150-day extension, to 30 June. Since mid-December, TAM has been operating from military facilities rather than from civilian passenger terminals. The airline has several BAe 146s, but it is unclear whether any of them are currently operational, as TAM has been unable to acquire spares because of funding restrictions. In any case, none are likely to make the transition to civil operations, for which TAM is planning to acquire a Boeing 737-300.
Recent news items on TAM:
- Second Avro RJ70 for TAM ferried to Bolivia (2018-01-19)
- TAM granted more time to achieve civil certification (2017-12-28)
- TAM faces suspension of operations as civil certification lags (2017-12-22)
- Avro RJ70 for TAM reaches Cochabamba (2017-08-14)
- TAM-Empresa Pública confirms Avro RJ70 acquisition (2017-06-30)