MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Alas buyover agreed on with Chilean airline LAW

Alas Uruguay, LAW agree on 100% buyover

Latin American Wings (LAW) and the Uruguayan company reached an agreement whereby the new owners will keep 50% of the current staff, government authorization pending. Alas Uruguay and the Chilean airline Latin American Wings (LAW) reached a “framework agreement” on Thursday as “the first step towards integration,” it was announce in Montevideo.

 The agreement, which is still subject to approval from the Uruguayan government, specifies that the Chilean company will buy 100% of the Alas shares and pay its liabilities, including a U$ 15 million loan from the state's startup fund known as Fondes.

The Chilean airline will cut in half the current payroll of the self-managed company, which is equal to saying it will keep at least 75 jobs, it was announced. Alas is now expected to resume flying as early as possible with a special interest in the Montevideo-Buenos Aires (Aeroparque) air shutttle, which is viewed as a milestone in the company's expansion plans.

LAW offers flights to Punta Cana and La Romana in the Dominican Republic, Lima and Port-au-Prince. The Aeroparque-Carrasco route is currently served by Aerolineas Argentinas and Amaszonas Uruguay, a subsidiary of the Bolivian airline Amaszonas.

Meanwhile in Bolivia, works to remodel Sucre's Alcantarí airport were halted following the death of an engineer who fell from the roof at about 9.50 am local time Thursday, the Ministry of Public Works announced.

It was the second accident of a similar kind, the first incident involving a worker who was fixing leaks on the roof. In the first case, a technician plunged to his death from 10 meters in height while fixing leaks on the airport's roof. Both casualties were workers of the company Convisa, which had been placed in charge of the reparations. The Bolivian government announced it will file legal actions against the company, which started works in September despite being assigned to the task in May.