The story
Establishment 2010s
Founded in Manaus, Brazil, on May 18, 2011, the name of MAP Linhas Aéreas is the acronym of the first letters of the name of its founding company, Manaus Aerotáxi Participações, an air taxi and non-scheduled airline based at Eduardo Gomes International Airport. The airline was founded due to the lack of air connectivity in the Brazilian Amazon region, where air transport plays an important role in connecting small cities to urban centers.
MAP Linhas Aéreas received its air operator's certificate (CHETA, in Portuguese) from the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) on August 14, 2012 for regular operations. That same year, it received its first three ATR 42-300 turboprop aircraft, registrations PR-MPN (MSN 020), PR-MPO (MSN 091) and PR-TTF (MSN 021), all acquired from TRIP Linhas Aéreas. With the exception of the first two, the last one received never went into operation, serving as a source of spare parts to keep the other two active.
2013-2019
On March 4, 2013, connected Manaus with Parintins and Lábrea, in Amazonas. In the third quarter of 2013, MAP added two ATR 72-200s to the fleet, ending the year with four aircraft.
In the first half of 2014, the airline began its regional expansion, starting flights to Carauari, in Amazonas and later, on August 11, to Santarém, Itaituba, Altamira and Belém, in Pará. It also added a third ATR 72-200 to the fleet, through a commercial agreement signed with STAR Consultoria Aeronáutica, owner of the plane registration PP-STY (MSN 367).
On March 30, 2015, began flights to Porto Velho, Rondônia, followed by Manicoré, Humaitá, Barcelos, Coari, Eirunepé, São Gabriel da Cachoeira and Tefé. The following year, it added Porto Trombetas and Tabatinga to its network of Amazonian destinations.
On October 9, 2016, presented a visual identity and aircraft livery, with the aim of displaying a more Amazonian tone, in line with its operations. The main change was in the tail of the planes, which instead of displaying the company's logo, started to adopt a design that incorporates elements from the North Region, including buildings such as the Amazon Theatre and the Ver-o-Peso Market, in addition to the flora, the fauna, cuisine and rivers of the Amazon.
On April 5, 2017, flights were announced for the "Rota da Soja" (Soy Route) in June, flying to Sorriso and Alta Floresta, in Mato Grosso. Due technical and logistical reasons, flights were not started. In mid-September, it announced a destination and fleet expansion plan for 2018, considering launching flights to several destinations in the Northeast Region, in addition to international flights in South America, in neighboring countries in the North of Brazil.
On December 18, 2017, received the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certification, the most important safety and quality certificate in aviation.
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On February 14, 2019, received its third ATR-72 aircraft, registration PR-MPW (MSN 682), announcing its expansion plan by increasing the frequency of flights to existing destinations and expressing its intention to fly to its first international destination, the city of Puerto Maldonado, in Peru.
The fight for slots in São Paulo Congonhas Airport
On July 27, 2019, after the bankruptcy of Avianca Brasil, the main Brazilian airlines began a dispute to obtain the valuable slots (landing and take-off times) left by it at Congonhas Airport, located in the heart of the city of São Paulo, the second largest busiest airport in Brazil by passengers number. MAP expressed its interest in obtaining them and entered the dispute against Azul Brazilian Airlines, GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, LATAM Airlines, TwoFlex (now Azul Conecta) and Passaredo Linhas Aéreas (now VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas) for the 41 slots in Congonhas.
On August 1, 2019, ANAC completed the provisional distribution process of Avianca Brasil's 41 daily departure and arrival times (slots) to operate on the main runway at Congonhas Airport, in São Paulo, with MAP obtaining 12 of them, behind Azul (15 slots) and Passaredo (14 slots).
On August 21, 2019, targeting the slots in São Paulo Congonhas Airport, Passaredo Linhas Aéreas (VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas) announced the acquisition of 100% control of MAP Linhas Aéreas, jointly holding 26 pairs of slots. Despite the acquisition, the airlines would continue to coexist. In September, together, they started flights from Congonhas to Ribeirão Preto, Bauru, Marília and Araçatuba, in São Paulo, Dourados, in Mato Grosso do Sul, Uberaba, in Minas Gerais and Macaé, in Rio de Janeiro.
2020s
On March 18, 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, MAP Linhas Aéreas suspended all its commercial flights with immediate effect, at least until March 22, when it planned to resume flights. However, two days later, on March 20, he announced that the suspension would be indefinite, maintaining only its chartered flights for Petrobras. After three months of suspension, on July 3, 2020, MAP Linhas Aéreas resumed its flights to 10 cities in the Amazon region, whose air transport is considered essential due to the lack of access by land.
Attempted acquisition by GOL Linhas Aéreas
On June 8, 2021, aiming to expand its presence at Congonhas Airport and reinforce operations in the interior of the Amazon, GOL Linhas Aéreas formalized an agreement with VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas for the acquisition of MAP Linhas Aéreas for R$28 million (US$5.6 million), in addition to assuming the airline's financial commitments, at the time valued at R$100 million (US$20.1 million), subject to government approval.
On January 3, 2022, Brazil's national competition regulator CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) approved without restrictions the acquisition of MAP by GOL Linhas Aéreas. At the time, according to the president of GOL, Paulo Kakinoff, MAP Linhas Aéreas would be absolved by GOL Linhas Aéreas and the brand would cease to exist.
On April 26, 2023, the ew president of GOL Linhas Aéreas, Celso Guimarães Ferrer, informed that the acquisition had not been completed, the reason was a new decree published by the Brazilian government at the end of 2022, which allowed airlines could sell their slots, without the need for an M&A (merger and acquisition) transition. Thus, the airline was studying the purchase of slots from VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas and no longer the operations of MAP Linhas Aéreas.
Recent
Until April 29, 2024, the air operator's certificate, brand, crew, two ATR 42-500 and one ATR 72-500 turboprops registered in the name of MAP Linhas Aéreas, remained in operation from its base in Eduardo Gomes International Airport. The first plane, registration PR-PDP (MSN 581), fulfilled contract no. 5900.0111285.19.2 for Petrobras and flew to Carauari and Porto Urucu. The second, PR-PDS (MSN 561), operated on an interchange basis with VOEPASS carrying out flights in the Northeast Region through a commercial agreement with LATAM Airlines. The third, PR-PDT (MSN 771), was operating flights for VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas.
On March 11, 2025, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil suspended all operations of MAP and parent company Voepass due to management issues. On April 23, 2025, Voepass filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming financial woes caused by LATAM Airlines, reporting about 209.2 million reais ($36.78 million) in debt caused by the Flight 2283 crash.
From Wikipedia’s article on MAP Linhas Aéreas, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4