Wednesday, May 26, 2021

FLEET UPDATE: ex-Norwegian Air Argentina 737-800's returned to Europe on 05May21


Norwegian Air Argentina operated four 737-800's:

LV-HQH (c/n 42278/6347) "Astor Piazzolla"
LV-IQZ (c/n 42086/6365) "Santiago Ramon y Cajal"
LV-ISQ (c/n 42280/6402)
LV-ITK (c/n 42087/6389) "Benito Pérez Galdóz"

The airline withdrew LV-ISQ from service on 27Apr19 on what was expected to be a temporary basis with the plane heading to Europe to help cover for a shortage of aircraft in Norwegian Air's fleet during the northern hemisphere summer season, due to the grounding of the 737 MAX series.  However, with the downturn in the Argentine economy during the second half of 2019, travel demand in the country dropped and LV-ISQ never returned to Argentina.  

Norwegian Air Argentina's (NAA) three remaining 737-800's, LV-HQH, LV-IQZ and LV-ITK, continued in service with the carrier and also flew for Jetsmart Argentina, with Norwegian titles and logos removed, after Jetsmart purchased NAA in December 2019.  Jetsmart Argentina planned to continue using the 737-800's until the second trimester of 2020 at which time they were to return to Europe (Jetsmart purchased NAA's route rights and other assets, but the 737-800's were not included in the deal).  However, the COVID-19 pandemic cut short all commercial flying in Argentina in mid-March and the aircraft were parked at Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) on 19Mar20 where they remained until recently. 

On 28Apr21, LV-HQH, performed a test flight in preparation for the return ferry flight from EZE to Ireland with LV-IQZ and LV-ITK doing the same on 30Apr21.    
On the morning of 05May21, all three aircraft departed Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) to Natal (NAT) and the Canary Islands before landing in Dublin (DUB) on 06May21.    

Sources:

No comments:

Post a Comment