It seems that the Bolivian government has ground the Boeing 727s used by Aerosur for flights to Miami. They were one of the last operators of 727-200 jets in regular passenger service. From what I understand it is due to safety concerns. I was lucky to photograph them twice:
floridaspotters.net/photodetails.php?photourl=25
http://floridaspotters.net/photos/bg_302785dsc_9807_abg.jpg
Bolivia has banned ALL commercial operation of airplanes 25 years or more older. In addition to the 727s there are some ancient 737s affected although it’s not clear whether old freighters are included in the ban. There’s a lot of them.
Link in Spanish: lostiempos.com/diario/actual … 04900.html
That affects a LOT of planes, and that’s just from simple math alone.
Depending on the times they rolled off the assembly line, you’re looking at anything older than 1985. that puts on the list:
Boeing:
B707s, B727s, B732s, B733s, B734s B741s, B742s, B743s, B752s, B762s, and B763s.
McDonnell Douglas:
DC8s DC9s, DC10s, MD81s, MD82s, and MD83s.
Airbus:
A300s and A310s
I’m not even going going to get into anything Sud, Lockheed, or prop based. But that’s a hefty list in itself…
BL.
Spanish is not my first language, but I think the ban applies to Bolivian-registered (passenger ?) planes only. According to airfleets.net all the 727s have already gone from Aerosur’s fleet but some 732s remain, the oldest of 1978 vintage which is a relatively recent aquisition (CP-2561, April 2009) and recorded as operating a flight on 27 March this year. So who knows what this all actually means ?