Saturday, September 14, 2024

ROUTE UPDATES: August 2024 - Aerolineas Argentinas, Andes, Avianca, COPA, Flybondi, Jetsmart Argentina

Route Updates - August 2024

The following airlines / flights are confirmed to have started or re-started service on the indicated routes on the listed dates.  Many of the services are the resumption of flights that existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Increases / decreases in flight frequency are verified by your editor only where indicated.

Airline - Route - Eff Date - Aircraft Type - Flight Frequency - Remarks  

* Aerolineas Argentinas - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - New York Kennedy (JFK) - 08Aug24 - A330-200 - 3x/weekly - Remarks: Route cancelled due to consistent financial losses.  Aerolineas Argentinas started flying between EZE and JFK in 1950 wth DC-6's, followed by Comet 4's in 1959, 707's in 1966, and 747's in the early 80's, until the route's cancellation in 2008 due to financial losses, only to be resumed in 2013 with A330's until now.  

* Andes Lineas Aereas - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - Bariloche (BRC) - xxAug24 - 737-800 - 2-4x/daily - Remarks: Operated EZE-BRC round-trip 2-4x/daily on most days in August using their fleet of two 737-800's, LV-HKS and LV-KFW. 

* Andes Lineas Aereas - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - Porto Seguro (BPS) - xxAug24 - 737-800 -Remarks: 22 charter flights for student tour company Soulmax through October 2024 using their fleet of two 737-800's, LV-HKS and LV-KFW. 

* Avianca - Bogota (BOG) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - 01Aug24 - A320neo, 787-8 - 17x/weekly - Remarks:  Increasing frequency from 14x/weekly. Flights operated by 787-8 1x/daily and A320 10x/weekly for a total of 17x/weekly. 

*Avianca - San Jose (SJO) - Quito (UIO) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - 31Aug24 - type ? - 1x/daily - Remarks: Increasing frequency from 4x/weekly until 25Oct24 when will revert to 4x/weekly because Avianca will start San Jose (SJO) - Guayaquil (GYE) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) 4x/weekly, eff 27Oct24 for a total of 8x/weekly flights from SJO through Ecuador to EZE.    

* COPA - Panama City (PTY) - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - xxAug24 - 737-800 - 31x/weekly - Remarks: Increasing frequency from 28x/weekly.  Additional frequencies to be operated by 737 MAX 9's

* Flybondi - Ushuaia (USH) - El Calafate (FTE) - 02Aug24 - 737-800 - 3x/weekly - Remarks: New year-round service increasing frequency to 4x/weekly in October.  Per aviacionline.com, the USH-FTE route is the Argentine interprovincial route (not originating/terminating in Buenos Aires) with the most passenger traffic, with 88,525 passengers and a load factor of 89% in the first six months of 2024. (this equals 486 per day, which seems high)

* Jetsmart Argentina - Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) - Florianapolis (FLN) - 30Aug24 - A320-200 - 2x/weekly - Remarks: Decreasing frequency from 3x/weekly until 13Dec24 when will increase flights up to 5x/weekly for the summer

Sources:
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, September 7, 2024

FLEET UPDATE: Republica Argentina 757-23A, T-01, "Tango Zero-One" flown to Dothan, Alabama, USA to be broken up for spares

Republica Argentina 757-23A, T-01 (c/n 25487/470), taxiing at Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 01Oct10.  (Phil Perry Photo)

Republica Argentina 757-23A, T-01 (c/n 25487/470), the country's former presidential transport aircraft from 1992 to 2015, left Argentina for the last time on 06Jun24, bound for Dothan Regional Airport (DHN), Alabama, USA, via technical stops in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (VVI), Manaus (MAO), Baranquilla (BAQ) and Opa Locka (OPF), Florida, finally arriving at Dothan on 08Jun24.  Local sources indicated that T-01 flew the first leg of the journey with its undercarriage deployed (safety precaution due to no flying time over the previous nine years ?).    

T-01 was delivered to Argentina fresh from the Boeing factory in 1992 where it flew extensively for Argentine presidents, ranging from Carlos Menem to Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, until 2015 when the aircraft was parked indefinitely at El Palomar Air Force Base near Buenos Aires due to extensive maintenance requirements required for its airworthiness certificate, including a heavy C-Check on its airframe plus major work on its engines and landing gears and updating of avionics and other electronics that would have cost US$ 20 million to carry out, well above the value of the aircraft itself. 

Although the airframe had only accumulated approx. 14,000 hours over 1,500 cycles (very low compared to 757's in regular commercial service, which typically accumulate 8-12 hours flying time per day) its estimated value was only some US$ 2 million due to the above-noted cost of the maintenance required for it to become airworthy again (T-01's airworthiness certificate expired in 2016), plus:

  • A history of recurring mechanical issues, especially with its Rolls-Royce engines, the worst of which was an inflight engine fire, forcing an emergency landing at El Palomar minutes after taking off from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) on 19Oct04.    
  • An executive interior that, if sold for continued use in that role, would probably have entailed extensive and costly modifications to the new owner's tastes.
  • Conversion to a cargo role would have been expensive with the addition of a cargo door.
  • Significant modifications to the airframe might also have required costly system / equipment upgrades to be in compliance with 2015 safety standards.                  

T-01 remained forlornly on the ramp at El Palomar, when finally in late 2022 it was traded in towards the purchase of a replacement, 757-200, ARG-01 (c/n 29306/920) with a US$ 3 million credit towards the US$ 25 million purchase price of the new addition to the fleet, which arrived in Argentina on 25May23.  

The plane's new owner, C&L Aviation Group of Bangor, Maine, USA, subsequently sold T-01 to Bischoff Aerospace of Hialeah, Florida, an aircraft parts dealer.  In early 2024, the aircraft  underwent extensive preparations for delivery to Bischoff in Dothan (DHN), wearing its new registration, N757CL, where it finally arrived on 08Jun24.  The aircraft will presumably be broken up for spare parts. 

Sources:

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)