Friday, November 24, 2017

FLEET UPDATE: Aerolineas Argentinas first 737 MAX 8 arrives in Argentina on 23Nov17


Aerolineas Argentinas first 737 MAX 8, LV-GVD (c/n 64207/6661), arrived at Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) on its delivery flight in the late afternoon of 23Nov17.  This is the first of five 737 MAX 8's to be delivered to the Argentine national airline in the coming months.

The MAX 8's were part of an earlier order by the carrier for 737-800's but they were converted to MAX 8's sometime during the last year or so.  All of the MAX 8's are being leased from Aviation Capital Group of Newport Beach, California, USA

Link to many photos of the aircraft at EZE after its arrival by the excellent blog Sir Chandler: 


Video of the arrival, also from Sir Chandler:


Sources:

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

NEW AIRLINE PLANS: Avianca Argentina started regularly scheduled service between Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) and Rosario service today 21Nov17


Avianca Argentina started regularly scheduled service this morning from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to Rosario (ROS) becoming the first new Argentine airline to operate scheduled service in the country since Andes Lineas Aereas and Sol Lineas Aereas started flying in 2006 and the first new carrier to start up since the Argentine public route hearings that took place on 27Dec16. 

The carrier took delivery of two new ATR-72-600's, LV-GUG (c/n 1343) and LV-GUH (c/n 1395) on 13Jan17 and 11Mar17, respectively, which the airline had only used on charters until now, such as to the ski destination of Malargue (LGS) and numerous charters for sports teams. 

Flight A0 7100 took off today from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to Rosario (ROS) at 08:06am, arriving back from that city at 10:47am.  The second daily rotation, flight A0 7108 took off from Aeroparque at 7:27pm.    

Video of the flight by the excellent blog Sir Chandler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2_UkCTKocA

The carrier is slated to start its second scheduled service, which will be between Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) and Mar del Plata (MDQ), next week on 28Nov17.  

Sources:

www.aa2000.com.ar
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Avianca%20Argentina-active-atr.htm
http://www.aviacionline.com/2017/11/historico-avianca-argentina-inicia-hoy-sus-vuelos-regulares/

Sunday, November 5, 2017

NEW AIRLINE PLANS: Avianca Argentina planning to receive 5 more ATR-72's by February plus 2 A320's in March

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."   

Sources:

Friday, November 3, 2017

NEW AIRLINE PLANS: Flybondi first 737-800 delayed, sporadic flights to start in December


Flybondi will apparently receive its first 737-800, LV-HKS (c/n 33821/1698), in late November, a little later than announced a few weeks ago.  The Low-Cost Carrier's second 737-800 will be delivered in December with eight more 800's due to join the fleet in 2018.  Eight aircraft will be based at El Palomar (EPA), just west of Buenos Aires, and two in Cordoba (COR).

Flybondi is planning to start service with a few special flights in December, presumably something along the lines of introducing the airline's routes and aircraft to the communities that it plans to fly to, followed by regularly-scheduled flights in January.  

The carrier's first announced routes seem to have varied considerably in recent weeks but several airports / combinations of airports have been consistently mentioned, such as Cordoba (COR) - El Palomar (EPA) and Bariloche (BRC), Iguazu (IGR) and Mendoza (MDZ).  

Flybondi plans to eventually have its own purpose-built private simple low-cost terminal at El Palomar (EPA) but will start service with improvised facilities until that time.  

The airline presently has 114 employees on its payroll with plans for 190 staff by year's end.              Sources:

https://aerospotter.blogspot.com.ar/2017/10/circulo-la-imagen-del-primer-avion-de.html
http://www.aviacionline.com/2017/10/flybondi-presento-a-su-primer-boeing-737-800-con-el-esquema-de-la-compania/
http://www.sirchandler.com.ar/2017/10/entrevista-ceo-flybondi-julian-cook/

Thursday, November 2, 2017

NEW AIRLINE PLANS: Flybondi's first 737-800 painted in company colors

Flybondi's first 737-800, LV-HKS (c/n 33821/1698), has been painted in the new company's full colors as seen in the following photo taken at Singapore-Seleta (XSP) on 30Oct17.  Note the addition of "La Libertad de Volar" (the freedom to fly) titles.  

http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/viewphoto.main?LC=nav2&picid=10062 via Eric Trum