Avianca Argentina ATR-72-600, LV-GUH (c/n 1395), taking off from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 08Oct17, apparently on a press flight. (Phil Perry Photo)
Avianca Argentina's start-up appears to be firmly on course with the airline selling tickets on its website for its first scheduled flights from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to Rosario (ROS) and Mar del Plata (MDQ) on 21Nov17 and 28Nov17, respectively.
Fleet Plans
Further plans are for the airline to receive three more factory-new ATR-72-600's in December, all of which have reportedly been painted in Avianca colors with at least one having made its first flight at ATR's manufacturing facility in Toulouse way back in July. The hold up in delivery of the aircraft has apparently been due to the carrier waiting for the start of service to be authorized before bringing the planes to Argentina.
Two more ATR-72-600's are scheduled for delivery in January and February for a total of seven ATR's (two were delivered earlier this year). Two each will be based at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP), Cordoba (COR) and Tucuman (TUC) with one more aircraft on reserve, probably in Cordoba (COR).
The carrier will also take delivery of its first two A320's in March for flights to Brazil.
Avianca originally ordered 12 ATR-72-600's for its Argentine affiliate but deliveries beyond the first seven ATR's and two A320's will depend largely on which routes develop well and how many of each aircraft are needed for its route system.
Jetstreams Gone
Avianca Argentina no longer operates any of the Jetstreams that it acquired when it purchased the Air Operator Certificate of MacAir. The editor of this blog has seen one or two of these Jetstreams at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) in recent months but they might have left Argentina by now or perhaps have joined the fleet of another Argentine company.
Aeroparque Hardstands
The north ramp area (adjacent to the north car parking lot) at Aeroparque has typically been used for parking up to a half-dozen aircraft at a time, such as business jets and MacAir Jetstreams, but will now also be used as hardstands for Avianca Argentina's ATR-72-600's.
Labor Unions
Finally, one of the most important matters for all of the new Argentine carriers to resolve for their operations to be viable is reaching agreement with the labor unions. Synergy Aerospace and Avianca Argentina President German Efromovich recently stated optimistically that "We are negotiating several labor contracts, we have preliminary agreements, and we are in the final stages of the negotiations."
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