Editing VASP (section)

==History==
[[File:NAMC YS-11A PP-SMN VASP SDU 08.05.72 edited-2.jpg|thumb|VASP operated the [[NAMC YS-11]] from 1969. This example is arriving at [[Santos Dumont Airport|Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport]] in 1972.]]
[[File:Vickers Viscount 701 PP-SRN VASP S.Paulo Marte 06.04.75.jpg|thumb|VASP [[Vickers Viscount]] turboprop airliner]]
[[File:BAC 1-11 422EQ PP-SRT VASP Galeao 07.05.72 edited-3.jpg|thumb|VASP [[BAC 1-11]] at Rio Galeao in 1972]]

The airline was established on 4 November 1933 by the state government of [[São Paulo (state)|São Paulo]] and started operations on 12 November 1933.<ref>{{cite book| author=Instituto Histórico-Cultural da Aeronáutica | title=História Geral da Aeronáutica Brasileira: de janeiro de 1956 a dezembro de 1966 da posse do Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira até as vésperas da Reforma Administrativa | place=Rio de Janeiro | publisher=INCAER | year=2014 | volume=5 | page=474 | language=pt}}</ref> VASP was the first airline to serve the interior of the state of São Paulo ([[São Paulo]]-[[São Carlos]]-[[São José do Rio Preto]] and [[São Paulo]]-[[Ribeirão Preto]]-[[Uberaba]]), with two [[Monospar ST-4]]. At the start of the 1930s, it was the only carrier to operate with land planes in their service area. At the time this was a real exploit due to the lack of adequate non-coastal airports. Many landing strips were improvised in flat pastures. This insistence on using only land planes led to the building in 1936 of one of the country's most important airports, [[Congonhas-São Paulo Airport|Congonhas]], located in the city of São Paulo, far from the coast. During its early years, Congonhas Airport was popularly known as ''Campo da VASP'' ("VASP's airfield").<ref>{{cite web | url=http://acervo.estadao.com.br/noticias/acervo,como-era-sao-paulo-sem-o-aeroporto-de-congonhas,8967,0.htm | title=Como era São Paulo sem o aeroporto de Congonhas | publisher=O Estado de S. Paulo (acervo) | language=pt | first=Rose | last=Saconi | date=2 April 2013 | access-date=8 July 2013}}</ref>

In 1939, VASP bought [[Aerolloyd Iguassu]], which included also a license to operate flights to the states of [[Paraná (state)|Paraná]] and [[Santa Catarina (state)|Santa Catarina]]. In 1962, VASP became a national airline when it acquired [[Lóide Aéreo Nacional]], and with it its license to operate nationwide.

On 6 July 1959, VASP, [[Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul|Cruzeiro do Sul]] and [[Varig]] initiated the [[Air shuttle|air shuttle services]] between [[Santos Dumont Airport|Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont]] and São Paulo-Congonhas airports, the first of its kind in the world. The three companies coordinated their schedules, operations, and shared revenue. The service was a direct response to the competition imposed by [[Real Transportes Aéreos]]. The idea, baptized as Air Bridge ({{lang|pt|Ponte Aérea}} in Portuguese), was inspired by the [[Berlin Blockade|Berlin Airlift]]. It was so successful that it was abandoned only in 1999.<ref>{{cite book | first1=Gianfranco | last1=Beting | first2=Joelmir | last2=Beting | title = Varig: Eterna Pioneira | place = Porto Alegre and São Paulo | publisher= EDIPUCRS and Beting Books | year=2009 | isbn=978-85-7430-901-9 | language=pt | pages=83–84}}</ref> Flights operated on an hourly basis initially by [[Convair CV-240 family|Convair 240]] (Varig), [[Convair CV-240 family|Convair 340]] (Cruzeiro) and [[Saab 90 Scandia]] (VASP). In a matter of a few months, the shuttle service led by Varig won the battle against Real, which was anyway bought by Varig in 1961. [[Sadia Transportes Aéreos]] joined the service in 1968. Between 1975 and 1992, it was operated exclusively by Varig's [[Lockheed L-188 Electra]], which for sometime and for the sake of neutrality did not have the name Varig on the fuselage.

Although it had been remarkably well-run for most of its life as a state-owned company, by the 1980s VASP was being plagued by inefficiency, losses covered by state capital injections, and a bloated payroll for political reasons. Under the Brazilian government's [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] policies newly introduced at the time, VASP was privatized in 1990. A majority stake was bought by the VOE/Canhedo Group, a company formed by the Canhedo Group of Brasília and VASP employees.

Under the command of its new owner and president, Wagner Canhedo, VASP quickly expanded operations in the country, and created international routes. Until VASP's entry into the international market, Varig had, for all intents and purposes, been Brazil's sole international airline since 1965. However, after many years of mismanagement, financial losses, soaring debt and bad credit, in 2002 it cancelled all of its international operations to concentrate in the domestic market. By that time, VASP had plummeted from the second to the fourth position in the Brazilian airline market, flying an aging fleet of [[Boeing 737]]s (most of them of the obsolete −200 series) and [[Airbus A300]]s.

The company faced its worst crisis in 2004 as new airlines such rise in the country, which led to the suspension of service to many Brazilian cities and the cancellation of flights. As a result, the airline had its domestic market share reduced to 10%. On 27 January 2005, Brazil's then civil aviation regulator, DAC, grounded the airline from operating scheduled services pending a financial investigation. VASP was allowed to operate charter services until April 2005, giving it a chance to prove its financial stability in order to retain its air operator certificate.

By December 2007, the once-proud company had stopped flying altogether, and was reduced to providing maintenance services to other airlines. Even during the worst of VASP's troubles, its maintenance expertise and personnel had always been held in high regard. It had been operating under the new Brazilian bankruptcy law since July 2006, and had its recovery plan approved on 27 August 2006. However, in 2008 it declared bankruptcy.

As of October 2020, nine of the company's planes (seven [[Boeing 737-200]]s and two [[Airbus A300]]s) are still grounded at [[Congonhas-São Paulo Airport]] since 2005 and by now badly weathered and dilapidated, began to be dismantled and sold for scrap at auction. Each plane in its current condition was estimated to be worth only 30,000 to 50,000 [[Brazilian real|real]] (approximately $20,000 to 33,000 US dollars), considerably less than even its monthly parking and storage fees. The company's fleet of 27 planes had been also grounded in similar circumstances since 2005 at various Brazilian airports.