Stop JetSmart expansion: Government told you there is no place for a new plane

Luis Ceriotto

08/06/2021 10:53

• Clarín.com

• Economy

Updated 08/06/2021 10:53

The airline

to JetSmart

did not obtain permission to take a new plane to the Metropolitan

Airport

,

the fifth of its fleet in Argentina

, due to

"lack of space

.

"

This was communicated to the company, more than a month ago, both by the private concessionaire

Airports Argentina 2000

and from

government agencies

.

"We are looking for a solution, there is a

good level of dialogue

, both with the airport concessionaire and with the

ORSNA

,"

Gonzalo Pérez Corral

, Country Manager of the "low cost" airline

, told

Clarín

.

The ORSNA is the

Regulatory Body of the National Airport System

: it is headed by

Carlos Lugones Aignasse

, an official linked to the governor of Santiago del Estero,

Gerardo Zamora

.

But it is its vice president,

Fernando Muriel

, a member of the

La Cámpora

group

, who in recent months led the most relevant decisions of that body.

Muriel's signature spearheaded the decrees that

blocked the reopening of the El Palomar airport

in October, as well as the one that granted facilities to both JetSmart and Flybondi so that they could move from that airport to Ezeiza, towards the end of the year.

A short time later, again with the endorsement of the ORSNA, a new move occurred by the former tenants of El Palomar, this time to the Metropolitan Airport.

The arrival at that quoted station

completely silenced

the claims that the two "low cost" airlines had been making throughout 2020. But now JetSmart has raised its voice again, before the

brake

on its incipient expansion.

"This refusal is like the tip of the ball: if they tell us that there is no space for a fifth plane,

what will happen then when we want to bring a sixth plane, or the seventh or the eighth?

" Said Pérez Corral.

The Argentine executive revealed this situation on Thursday, coinciding with JetSmart's announcement that it will start flying two new domestic routes, to

Comodoro Rivadavia

and

San Salvador de Jujuy

.

JetSmart in Comodoro Rivadavia

JetSmart is an airline of American capitals, controlled by the investment fund

Indigo Partners

, whose head is the businessman

William Franke.

Last week, JetSmart announced that

a minority part of its capital was bought by American Airlines

, also American and the

world's largest

airline

.

However, the government's refusal was at the end of June, well before that announcement.

"We made the formal request towards the end of May and the answer (with the negative) came a month later. Since then we have been talking, with a good level of dialogue, but

so far without results,

" added Pérez Corral.

"It is striking to us that we cannot have space in Aeroparque: it

is operating at 40% activity

compared to 2019 and

without the seven moorings used by LATAM.

To that, we must add that last year important expansion works were carried out" , he pointed.

Bill Franke, center, owner of the investment fund Indigo Parners, at a press conference in 2019, when he announced the purchase of Norwegian Argentina.

Second from the right is Gonzalo Pérez Corral.

The Government admitted this situation, which they attributed to

strictly technical

issues

. "It is true that Aeroparque is operating in number of operations, of movements,

below the pre-pandemic levels

. For this reason, the apron positions

remain occupied

, the aircraft stays

are longer

due to the fact that they have fewer operations" , official

sources

told

Clarín

.

Pérez Corral said that at JetSmart they are evaluating alternatives such as opening a

second base of operations

in the country, at the Ezeiza airport or at an airport in the interior.

But that this would mean having higher costs that should

be transferred to the rates

.

"Any alternative represents higher costs, therefore,

less possibilities to continue operating with low prices

. At the moment, we are appealing to both the authorities and the concessionaire to find creative solutions that allow us to continue operating from a

single base

", He said.