I heard that Uruguay’s government owned part of Pluna Airlines, “Uruguay’s Airline” (at least the main one).
It seems Uruguay’s government has their hands all over the private sector. They are into the banking industry, telecommunications, Internet, healthcare… (Sounds kind of like the U.S. government.)
So Uruguay’s government being involved in the airline didn’t surprise me.
I probably wouldn’t have thought about Pluna again until I was ready to fly, but I just read an interesting article in the Montreal Gazette which states…
“Latin American Regional Aviation Holding Corporation owns 75% of Pluna while 25% is ‘indirectly owned’ by the Uruguayan government.”
I’m not sure what “indirectly owned” means, but I’m sure they’re getting some green somehow.
How does Canada fit in?
Jazz Air is a Canadian airline that just bought a 1/3 equity stake of Latin American Regional Aviation Holding Corporation.
According to the article, it seems South American air travel is an up and coming market for investors.
GONZALO Campbell says
Hello Brian!!!
Welcome to Uruguay!!! 🙂
I hope you are pleased to live here. Uruguay is an excelent country for live…….
Your blog is excelent. I have read some articles, and they are interesting stories…….
Well, I have got a question about this article…..
What is your “problem” or what thing you don’t understand about the state companies of Uruguay?
The principal objetives of this companies are not economic quite the opposite, they have got social objetives. For example OSE (Obras Sanitarias del Estado), have under your control the supply of potable water. People knows that potable water is an essential resource and Imagine if OSE will be under control of the private company, the potable water supply service will be expensible…………
It happens with the other state company, too. Such as ANTEL, UTE, PLUNA, Banking industry, etc.
The uruguayan state must veil for the welfare of all uruguayan and all his residents from other contries…..
Well, I finished with my commentary….
Write to me soon…..
SEE YOU, GONZALO
PS: SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH 😉
Brian says
Hi Gonzalo…
Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your comment. Your English is good, no worries there.
What is your “problem” or what thing you don’t understand about the state companies of Uruguay?
I don’t have a problem with “state companies” in Uruguay… It’s just a completely different concept than the Capitalistic society I grew up in…
I personally believe if there is a lot of competition, prices will go down and quality will improve.
One example off the top of my head is Coke. Coke is ridiculously expensive here in Uruguay, upwards of U$S 2 a liter. In the U.S. you can find Coke on sale and get 2 2 liter bottles of Coke for U$S 1… The reason is because of the amount of competition in the soda market in the U.S… If Coke was U$S 2 per liter in the U.S., Coke would go out of business.
I feel the same would happen for potable water. There are tons of bottled water companies in the U.S. who all compete for business, therefore it drives the price down.
I understand why the Uruguayan government is involved… It’s because they regulate prices so they can make $ to put back into the country…
I don’t have a problem, it’s just different.