Aerolineas Argentinas has set a 14 March move date for transitioning regional international flights from Ezeiza Airport outside Buenos Aires to Aeroparque in the city centre.
Argentina's government decided last month to open up Aeroparque, which was previously limited to domestic and Uruguayan services, for flights to other South American countries. Aerolineas chief commercial officer Juan Pablo Lafosse says the carrier is now preparing to move on 14 March 160 international weekly flights from Ezeiza to Aeroparque.
He says the flights being shifted are "mainly Brazil, Chile and Paraguay flights" and after the move there will no longer be flights to these three countries from Ezeiza. He says Aerolineas will also cease domestic flights at Ezeiza, which are now limited to three seasonal flights per day between September and March.
According to Innovata, Aerolineas currently links Ezeiza with Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Porto Alegre and Salvador in Brazil as well as Asuncion in Paraguay and Santiago in Chile. Domestically, Aerolineas currently operates from Ezeiza to Cordoba, El Calafate and Mendoza.
Lafosse says Aeroparque is an important part of Aerolineas' new business plan, which focuses on offering more capacity and better connections across its regional network. Passengers travelling to and from the capital typically prefer Aeroparque over Ezeiza as Aeroparque is much closer to the city's main business district. Perhaps more significantly, by moving short and medium-haul international flights to Aeroparque passengers travelling between secondary cities in Argentina and most other South American countries will no longer have to endure the hassle of transferring between Buenos Aires' two airports. "This will give us quite a competitive advantage in terms of the connections with the domestic destinations and the regional routes," Lafosse said in an interview with ATI and Flightglobal sister publication Airline Business Magazine.
In addition to launching flights to Brazil, Chile and Paraguay at Aeroparque Aerolineas is expanding its Aeroparque operation this year with additional frequencies on existing routes. Lafosse says domestic ASKs at Aerolineas and its domestic subsidiary, Austral, are projected to increase 40% in 2010 compared to 2009 levels. He says a 90% ASK increase is planned on international regional flights as new routes are launched and frequencies on existing routes are added.
He says the additional capacity offsets capacity cuts implemented over the last two years but also significantly expands Aerolineas' domestic and regional operation beyond 2008 levels. Lafosse says ASKs were down 8% network-wide in 2009, with most of the capacity cuts coming in the first half of the year and affecting short-haul routes.
Lafosse says Aerolineas is able to add capacity across its domestic and regional network this year by increasing aircraft utilisation as it renews its narrowbody fleet. The carrier over the last year has already replaced its 737-200s with 737-700s. Lafosse says the -700s are being utilised an average of 12 hours per day compared to 4.5 hours for the -200s. In the second half of this year Aerolineas will begin replacing its 737-500 and Boeing MD-80 fleets.
As part of its new Aeroparque-focused business plan, Aerolineas also plans to invest in improving its maintenance capability at Aeroparque. Lafosse says most of the carrier's in-house maintenance is now done at Ezeiza but the Aerolineas plans to move most narrowbody work to Aeroparque because its entire short-haul operation will now be based at the downtown airport. At the same time Aerolineas plans to upgrade its maintenance facilities at both airports and add capabilities to cover new types of aircraft as the carrier renews its fleet.
"We have a strong investment plan in the maintenance area," Lafosse says.
He says for now Aerolineas has no plans to take on more third-party maintenance work. Instead the focus is to in-source more as currently some heavy checks have to be outsourced.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
