Review of Paranair flight from Asunción to Rio De Janeiro in Economy

iNTRODUCTION

Welcome to my first flight report of the year! This time, I'm flying a seasonal route from a rather unknown Paraguayan airline: Paranair (ZP). By the way, I think this is the very first report of Paranair as such in this site. Because of the summer season, during January, the airline offered six flights between Asunción (ASU) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG), a route which is otherwise left unserved during the rest of the year. After spending the holidays with my family in Paraguay, this flight was the perfect chance for avoiding connecting in GRU, and also trying a new airline and aircraft. The routing is the following:

Booking

The flight, along with inbound leg with LATAM (LA) and Azul (AD), was booked through Kiwi.com. It was marketed as a LA flight, which has a codeshare agreement with ZP. A checked luggage of 23 kg or less was included in the fare.

AT THE AIRPORT

As my family home is five minutes away from the aiport, I didn't need to get there very early. I arrived at Asuncion's Silvio Pettirossi International Airport at around 04:00, three hours away from our scheduled time of departure. 

ASU check-in hall.

Departures board. The check-in hall was quite movimented because of the CM, AV and LA flights.

As I approached the ZP check-in counter, I noticed it was empty. Check-in was not yet available, despite being less than three hours before departure. I waited approximately for 40 minutes before the staff showed up. When checking-in I was requested to submit my PCR test and vaccination certificate, as Brazil is currently open only to vaccinated travellers.

After completing check-in, the time came to say goodbye to my family. Then, I went through security and customs in less than 10 minutes. 

I was very pleased to find a new Juan Valdez coffee shop on the airside, in the spot were the BBVA lounge once stood. This is the first establishment to open in more than a decade, breaking Havanna's monopoly and mediocre service.

As my flight departed form gate 6, I had to walk the bridge connecting the airport's two departure halls.

For a while, I was the only person waiting at the gate, along with a Brazilian lady. Eventually, the rest of the passengers started to show up. I estimate the flight  was about 60-70% full. A considerable part of them were connecting from LIM after arriving on the LA flight.

Our flight information was already on the gate screen.

BOarding

- Airline: Paranair (ZP)
- Aircraft: Bombardier Mitsubishi CRJ-200
- Registration: ZP-CRS
- Age: 20 years (2001)
- Scheduled time of departure: 07:00 (ATD 07:02)
- Scheduled time of arrival: 09:40 (ATA 09:10)
- Flight time: 02:40 (Actual 02:08)
- Take-off from runway: 02
- Landing in runway: 15 

The boarding process was announced around 06:30. Only a single group was formed as were around 30-35 passengers on the 50-seat CRJ. Naturally, it was carried out efficiently. Initially, I imagined we were going to board via stairs because of the CRJ size and it having built-in stairs. However, they somehow managed to fit the jetway into the CRJ. I don't know is this is common with the regional carriers in the US, but I guess it isn't that common.

Another ZP plane, a Challenger and a Gulfstream on this side of the apron.

To other side, a CM 737-800 about to push for its flight back to PTY.

Walking down the jetway.

Beautiful dawn outside. Our CRJ, ZP-CRS, has flown for several airlines during 20 years, including Jazz Aviation.

As we entered the plane, we were greeted by the single flight attendant serving us that day. The CRJ-200 has a 2-2 configuration, and in this case it had comfy leather seats with considerable pitch between them.

The flight attendant handed us water bottles when entering, which I considered a nice touch.

View from my seat, 6D.

Seat pocket contents. It included the safety card, an air sickness bag, and a information pamphlet about COVID or flu-like symptoms.

FLIGHT

The plane started a brief pushback around 06:50, ten minutes before our scheduled departure.

Then, we taxied to runway 02.

Position and hold.

The General Electric CF34 engines started roaring, and in seconds we were rolling. We left the ground at 07:02, only two minutes behind schedule.

Some views of the Asunción Metropolitan Area as we turned eastwards.

Ypacaraí lake, near Asunción.

As we climbed, we flew over the Paraguayan countryside.

City of Caaguazú, eastern Paraguay.

30 minutes into the flight, we left Paraguayan airspace. Note how evident the border between Paraguay (right) and the Argentine province of Misiones (left) is because of rate of deforestation.

We overflew Iguazú Falls and the nearby Iguazú Aiport (IGR).

The FA announced that because of "health regulations" there would be no onboard meal service on this flight. I highly doubt it was the actual reason, as LA has a meal service on its ASU-GRU route. I am aware of such restrictions only on domestic Brazilian flights, which was obviously not our case. My guess is that ZP saw the pandemic as an excuse for cost-cutting measures, between them the in-flight service. At least they gave us a water bottle during boarding.
As there was no meal service, I took the time to go to the toilet in the aft section. Because of the CRJ's small size, the toilet was naturally quite limited in space.

There was plenty of paper and soap, however.

The cabin as seen from behind. I found the CRJ-200 cabin to be surprisingly comfortable, and similar to an Embraer 170/190 in size.

Meanwhile, clouds began to appear as we flew over the state of Paraná.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes of flight, the coastline appeared. We entered the Atlantic Ocean over the port city of Paranaguá.

After flying along the coast for thirty minutes, we started descending towards Rio Galeão Airport.

Note all the ships heading towards the Port of Rio.

Spoilers were used during approach.

Santa Cruz Air Base with its historical Zeppelin hangar.

Views of the city as we approached GIG.

Turning for line up with runway 15.

On final.

We landed on runway 15 at 09:10, half an hour behind schedule. 

Vacating the runway.

Despite having recovered somehow, movement at GIG is still scarce. At the moment, there were an AF 777-300ER, AA 787-8, UA 767-300ER, CM 737-800 and an SKY A320neo. 

We came to a stop in a remote position.

DEplaning & arrival

We deplaned using the stair all CRJs have attached to the door. Our plane, ZP-CRS

Naturally, we were droven to the terminal by bus. On the way, views of the tarmac were great.

This time, I found GIG to be quite chaotic. The customs are was difficult to find, and the airport staff guided us the wrong way.

They even told us to go through a pitch-dark tunnel, only to find out the way out was locked.

The issues continued when entering the country. Even though I had a resident ID (in Brazil they have a special ID for inmigrants), they requested me to submit my original ID, and then told me to wait outside an office because according to their records, I exited the country as a tourist, despite having used the resident ID to do so. After 10 minutes, they handed me my documents back and told me I was free to go.

Baggage claim hall.

Luckily, I had a friend picking me up, so I didn't need to go through the ordeal of searching for an Uber, only to get cancelled numerous times (a widespread problem in Brazil).