On September 14th, it was announced that the Uruguayan government had delayed the planned auction of Pluna’s CRJ-900s and the airline’s other assets until some point in October.
According to a news conference by the country’s Minister of Transport and Public Works, the auction was delayed because the government wanted “to give the interested parties more time.”
However, further investigation by local news sources indicated that the main issue was the government’s placing of the sale price at a total of 136 million dollars. There are other conditions connected to the sale including, according to reports, the hiring of Pluna staff as well.
As the first auction failed to accomplish anything, by court order the second auction will set the price of the CRJs at approximately 19 million dollars each. This is however still far above the average market price of CRJ-900s which ranges between ten and twelve million dollars.
Reportedly, there were three interested parties in the auction, however none of them actually appeared on the date of the auction. They were: Sol Airlines of Argentina, BQB of Argentina who is involved with operating ferry service, and the Venezuelan air carrier Conviasa. The reported main reason for their non-attendance was simply that the price was too high to pay for what was offered.
The aircraft involved in this situation are thirteen CRJ-900LRs:
CX-CRA MSN 15165
CX-CRB MSN 15169
CX-CRC MSN 15175
CX-CRD MSN 15180
CX-CRE MSN 15185
CX-CRF MSN 15204
CX-CRG MSN 15209
CX-CRH MSN 15233
CX-CRI MSN 15234
CX-CRK MSN 15239
CX-CRL MSN 15273
CX-CRM MSN 15274
CX-CRN MSN 15275
All are still currently, as of this date, stored at Montevideo Carrasco airport in Uruguay.
