Air Travel in Bolivia

Aerosur
The most well known national airline is Aerosur. Since LAB went broke in early 2007, Aerosur has continued to grow to a point where they are now growing to cover key international flights (see below modules). Aerosur fly from Santa Cruz to Sucre, La Paz and Cochabamba everyday an example flight cost is Santa Cruz to Sucre US$50. You can book your ticket at any of the many Aerosur offices around the city of Santa Cruz or any travel agency. Flights can be booked as late as 1 hour beforehand if there are seats available. More information at www.aerosur.com (note that the english section of their website is not yet developed and it is easier to book through an agent than online).

GOL
Another good airline to keep in mind is GOL (www.voegol.com) where there is a daily (nightly) flight from Santa Cruz into Campo Gande for just $50. Again, easy to book through an agent, utt his site does not accept international credit cards (eg only Brazilian, Bolivian etc)

TAM - Transporte Aero Militar
The suprise bet here - TAM is the Bolivian Military Airline and while most people balk at the thought of travelling in a small plane in Bolivia, this airline is actually one of the most well organised and reliable. Their office in Santa Cruz is in aeropuerto El Trompillo, also where all of their planes leave from. Flights from Santa Cruz to Sucre or La Paz 4 times a week from U$45.

Aerocon
This airline is based in Trinidad and from here flies to the harder to reach places of Bolivia like Cobija, Guayaramerin, Riberalta and Santa Ana (La Paz region). They also fly to La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz, their office is in Aeroperto El Trompillo and their website is listed below.

Amaszonas
Are most famous for their La Paz to Rurrenabaque route but also fly to Trinidad, Guayaramerin, Riberalta, Cobija, San Borja, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. The fees for between each of the cities are listed under "tarifas" on their website, listed below. Their office in Santa Cruz is in El Trompillo airport.

Remember when travelling in Bolivia its best to stay in well located hostel that can keep you up to date information on Air an Land travel - like Jodanga Hostel in Santa Cruz www.jodanga.com

Air travel is the obvious way to get to Bolivia - but many peple make the mistake of trying to book a flight direct to La Paz and end up paying 100s of dolars more than they should. The cheapest and most direct flights into Bolivia land in Viru Viru international aiport, Santa Cruz.

To/From the USA
Their is at least 1 flight daily betwen Miami and Santa Cruz, Aerosur flies 4 times a week to/from Miami and American Airlines also flies a number of times. SO you option here is to find the best deal to Miami and then purchase our flight to Santa Cruz. Flights to La Paz are expensive because of the altitude - its difficult for planes to land at 4000m and uncomfortable for the passengers

To/From Europe
There are several direct flights between Spain and Santa Cruz every week, on both Aerosur and other european airlines - so everyone travelling to and from Europe here is your chance to keep practicing that spanish or have a lovely beach holiday in mallorca before the slog of south america.

Once you have your international flight booked - its far easier and cheaper to organise your internal flights from the point of departure.

Within South America
Gol airlines will hav your best deals to Brazil, and Aerolinea Argentina the best deals to Argentina. LAN Chile/Peru will always have flights between Bolivia and these countries but many budget travelers still find them a bit expensive and prefer overland options

Booking flights are very easy on weekdays - any travel agency wil be able to book your flight with the commercial airlines. They should not charge an additional fee for the ticket - they normally earn comission from the airlines profit.

This is not the case with TAM however - you will need to organise this flight yourself at one of their offices (normally in the airport from which they fly). TAM do not pay agencies comission as a government airline - and as a result an agency may neglect to tell you that that flight is available. Be prepared to pay cash for these flights too.

Many flights can also be booked with the use of an international booking engine such as Orbitz or Expedia. LAN, TACA and Aerolineas for example have all their flights registered in these engines. Aerosur have only some flights registered.

In many cases it is possible to book a flight just prior to departure (only for national) providing there is space - don´t rely on it though and try to book at least the day before.