God has an Argentine document. Or it would appear to have it, at least for those who administer the national airline system. Perhaps it is because, to be as close as possible to the Creator, the organization of passenger transport in our skies is unique in the world. Or almost unique.
On July 17 of last year, 15 years passed
since the nationalization of Aerolíneas Argentinas
by Cristina Kirchner. In that period,
the company lost something like $10 billion
. And although on paper it appears as a Public Limited Company, it is as state-owned as ANSES or PAMI. That is, this deficit is also paid by the retirees of both organizations and the rest of the Argentines.
Low-cost airlines are gaining ground in the domestic market largely dominated by Aerolíneas Argentina.
When she nationalized it, Cristina created a strange law that almost no other country has: the State must always pay any amount that Aerolíneas Argentinas loses. It doesn't matter how much money it is. A flag line tinged with partisan politics, with
extravagant salaries,
that flutters thanks to the winds of an apparent public debt party in a bankrupt country.
Despite the deficit, something is happening that Aerolíneas
has been losing position in the domestic market for years
. According to sources from the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC), validated by the Ministry of Tourism,
AA would have lost about 10 points in the market in the last year.
Aerolíneas Argentinas was able to transport
up to 73% of passengers on domestic flights
. Today, it is still leading,
but by 62%
. The big winners were the two low cost that were left standing after the pandemic:
Flybondi and Jets Smart, which with others like Norwegian
that left the country, began to operate under the Open Skies plan of Mauricio Macri's government.
AA admits to
Clarín
that there may have been some decline in the dominance of the local market but "it is not at all catastrophic." "We continue to largely lead air transport, even in this last six-day Easter
we sold 240 thousand tickets on domestic flights, almost 30% more than last year.
It is true that the other companies also grew," they indicate.
In addition to the routes to other Argentine provinces, only through AA, about 20,000 people went to other countries in those six days of XXL holidays. "14,000 to the United States, especially Miami, and 5,000 passengers to Europe," they detailed to this newspaper.
Returning to the competition in the commercial airline market, specialists highlight that both Jetsmart and Flybondi made the jump
thanks to an aggressive pricing policy favored by their lower costs compared to AA.
When Latam Argentina ceased to exist,
it controlled 20% of the market.
"These passengers, almost entirely, began to travel on low-cost airlines," they point out. Today, Flybondi and Jetsmart
transport about 37%
of passengers on domestic flights.
"Jetsmart transported more than
60,000 passengers
during the long weekend, from Thursday to Tuesday, on 330 domestic and international flights to 17 destinations,"
Daniel Scioli, Secretary of Tourism and Sports, tells
Clarín .
The official who joined Javier Milei's government after being ambassador to Brazil of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, added that
Flybondi had 450 flights with 78,000 passengers, 85% national.
That is, at least in these six days of mini vacation,
the two lowcost transported just over 50% of the passengers chosen by Aerolíneas Argentinas.
By far, AA is the company with the largest number of aircraft. It also leads even further with the number of administrative employees, pilots and crew on board. It operates with 50 Boeing 737s, which measure 35 meters and have capacity for 185 passengers. It also has another 26 Embraer, smaller and with 110 passengers. The international flights are made with 10 heavy-body aircraft, Airbus 330.
Flybondi's fleet consists exclusively of Boeing 737 and Jetsmart's fleet consists of Airbus. Between them they do not reach 35 aircraft.
"Airlines
are going to continue losing money and market
. It is natural that this is the case, because it is a company that was poorly managed, expensive and inefficient. With much higher salaries than its competitors. In addition, they fly less," understands Franco Rinaldi, a specialist. of aero-commercial issues who resigned his candidacy for Buenos Aires Deputy of Jorge Macri in the middle of the electoral campaign.
A senior official from Aerolíneas Argentinas with close contacts with La Cámpora, and who requests anonymity,
denies that Máximo Kirchner's organization operates against lowcost companies.
"It is true that the El Palomar airport was closed for an ideological issue: what Macri did had to be destroyed. But after a short period in Ezeiza,
Flybondi and Jetsmart benefited by allowing them to operate from Aeroparque
. Their business unit grew as never, they themselves admit it and they don't even want to return to El Palomar," he says.