Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais informations and photos

Rio-Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais S/A 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 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 (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.

Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais operated services to the following scheduled domestic destinations (at January 2005): Caxias do Sul, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Londrina, Maringá, Passo Fundo, São Paulo and Vitória.

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

According to the Aviation Safety Network's database, Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais has never experienced a fatal accident in its 26-year-history, though four hull-losses have occurred:

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