Argentina loses 17 airlines in just two years

According to the government of Buenos Aires, Argentina now has 17 fewer airlines than before the start of the pandemic. In addition, the people of Buenos Aires have seen how their airport has lost connections with 18 cities, with which it operated before the COVID-19 crisis paralysed Argentine air traffic.
 
In fact, in this first four-month period of the year there have been 50% fewer international flights than in 2019, the year before the pandemic. Before the COVID, there were 856 flights per week; however, this year there were only 425 operations per week, according to the General Directorate of Market Intelligence and Observatory of the Buenos Aires Tourism Board, based on data from Aeropuertos Argentina 2000.

But the post-pandemic crisis has not only affected international flights, and this first quarter has left a 34% deficit in the number of domestic flights compared to the same time last year, going from 1,131 flights per week to only 748 per week.
 
The number of airlines operating in Buenos Aires has also decreased. In 2019 there were 42 airlines with flights departing from or arriving at Ezeiza and Aeroparque, while this year, only 29 different companies operated international flights from these airports.

There were therefore 13 airlines that stopped operating after the pandemic, including: Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Amazonas, Andes Líneas Aéreas, Austral Líneas Aéreas, Avian Líneas Aéreas, Azul, Edelweiss Air, Emirates, Estelar Latinoamérica, Norwegian Air and Qatar Airways.
 
The supply of domestic flights was also reduced to less than half, around 57%; this is due to the decrease in the number of airlines currently operating domestic flights. While in the first four months of 2019 there were 7 operators (Aerolíneas Argentinas, Latam, Norwegian Air, Flybondi, Andes Líneas Aéreas, Avian Líneas Aéreas and Jetsmart), today there are only 3 of them (Aerolíneas Argentinas, Flybondi and Jetsmart).

Another fact that the study carried out by Ente de Turismo shows is the reduction of connections from Buenos Aires to foreign countries. In 2019, it was connected with 49 foreign cities, while in the first four months of this year it has only been connected with 32.

17 cities were therefore lost to which Argentines will no longer be able to reach by air directly; among them are: Belo Horizonte, Caracas, Doha, Dubai, Fortaleza, Los Angeles, Manaus, Natal, Navegantes, Porto Seguro, Quito or Recife.
 
Faced with this situation, the Secretary General and International Relations of Buenos Aires, Fernando Straface, said: "The recovery of tourism has a ceiling if Argentina does not resume the policy of air connectivity that in 2019 generated a record number of international visitors and a record number of domestic passengers. More tourism means more jobs for all Argentines and also more foreign currency".
 
The controversy is heated, especially after the statements of the new Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, who stated that: "The right to travel collides, or tensions, with the right to create jobs".
 

"Everyone has the right to holidays - which is a right of a Peronist government - but we have to manage the reserves so that the country can grow," she added.

These statements generated a strong response from the sector, which indicated that between 1 January and 30 April, Argentina earned 1.156 billion dollars thanks to foreign travellers who chose them for their holidays.
 
Figures that demonstrate the importance of the tourism sector in the country, but which are currently on the decline, immersed in a spiral in which airlines are finding Argentinean destinations less and less attractive. 
 
America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.