LaMia

LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed Venezuelan airline of the same name. Founded in 2015, LaMia operated three Avro RJ85 as of November 2016. The airline received international attention when one of its aircraft crashed in November 2016, killing many members of Brazilian football club Chapecoense. In the aftermath, LaMia's air operator's certificate was suspended by the Bolivian civil aviation authority.

==History== ===LaMia (Venezuela)=== Bolivian airline LaMia originated in the failed Venezuelan airline of the same name, which was founded as LAMIA, C.A. in 2009 by Spanish businessman Ricardo Albacete. The name chosen, styled as , was the acronym of Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación and literally means "my airline". It took delivery of an ATR 72-500 wet leased from Swiftair and intended to begin service out of Mérida, Venezuela, its original base. However, the company failed to secure its own air operator's certificate and folded in October 2010 after only operating since August, with Swiftair taking back the aircraft. After its permits expired, LaMia attempted a relaunch in 2011 by taking a single Avro RJ85 and focusing on domestic flights, although none operated from Mérida. Having had its efforts in Mérida thwarted twice, the airline moved to the state of Nueva Esparta: the airline changed the M in its name to mean Margarita and planned to relaunch in early 2014 operating out of Porlamar. A November 2013 demonstration flight featured the state's governor, Carlos Mata Figueroa, and Albacete gave a speech praising Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro; this incarnation also fell through amidst the country's worsening economic crisis. In 2014, LaMia even placed its planes in Trujillo, Trujillo, apparently with the intent of operating flights from Valera to Caracas, but these efforts never got off the ground; the airline failed to receive certification from the National Institute of Civil Aviation (INAC), and the planes were only in Venezuela for a year.