Flybondi - Review of First Three Months + Short-Term Future Outlook

Flybondi, Argentina's new Low-Cost Carrier (LCC), recently completed its first three months of service with a significant number of problems in its first month of flying that have been slowly diminishing with the carrier improving its service record as it gets past its start-up period.

A recent company press release provided some details about the carrier's performance in the 90+ days since its first scheduled flight on 26Jan18:

Flight & Passenger Statistics

Flybondi recently completed 1,000 flights and also passed the 100,000 passenger mark with 20,000 of those travelers having flown for the first time.

The airline claims to have achieved an 80% on-time flight performance with a 66% load factor, low by today's standards, especially for an LCC that needs to fill as many seats as possible in order to make a profit charging the low fares that it generally offers.  However, Flybondi is a new operation that is still gaining recognition in the travel marketplace plus press coverage in its first few months predictably focused on the carrier's problems without reporting its achievements and advances, which probably depressed passenger numbers.  The airline is targeting an 85% load factor in the next few months.

Route Development

Flybondi's two most recently added routes are Buenos Aires El Palomar (EPA) - Corrientes (CNQ) and Buenos Aires El Palomar (EPA) - Jujuy (JUJ), both of which started on 28Mar18, a few weeks after originally scheduled, giving the airline 12 routes in all.  During its first three months, the carrier's  most traveled routes were the following, presumably in the order given, although the press release was not clear on that: 

* El Palomar (EPA) - Cordoba (COR)
* Cordoba (COR) - Mendoza (MDZ)
* El Palomar (EPA) - Bariloche (BRC)
* El Palomar (EPA) - Mendoza (MDZ)
* Cordoba (COR) - Iguazu (IGR)
       
Flybondi intends to add four new routes over the next two months, all from El Palomar (EPA) to destinations that will be new to the airline's network:

El Palomar (EPA) - Posadas (PSS), eff 15May18 

El Palomar (EPA) - Bahia Blanca (BHI), eff 30May18 

El Palomar (EPA) - Salta (SLA), eff 15Jun18  

El Palomar (EPA) - Santiago del Estero (SDE), eff 02Jul18 

Fleet Expansion

Flybondi's current fleet consists of three 737-800's with two more of the type  due in May and June that will be used in the planned route expansion.  Five more aircraft are expected during the remainder of the year for a total of 10 737-800's by the end of 2018.

Employment

Flybondi currently has 340 employees with 700 staff expected by the end of 2018.

Sources:

http://www.sirchandler.com.ar/2018/04/flybondi-llego-a-los-100-000-pasajeros-y-brinda-mas-numeros/
Flybondi press release via the above link