Avianca Argentina Plans Rapid Expansion With 10 More Aircraft This Year
Avianca Holdings and Synergy Group chairman German Efromovich discusses the performance so far and the expansion plans for Avianca Argentina. Avianca Argentina commenced operations in 2017 and is part of Synergy Group, the parent company for Avianca Brazil and the larger shareholder of Colombia-based Avianca Holdings. Avianca Argentina currently operates two ATR 72-600 turboprops to five domestic destinations. Mr Efromovich said the airline is about to add four more ATR 72-600s which will be used to expand in Argentina’s regional domestic market. He also revealed airline’s first two A320s are expected to be delivered by August and be used to launch international services from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo. Avianca Argentina plans to end 2018 with three A320s along with seven ATR 72-600s. Mr Efromovich said Avianca Argentina plan to add another seven A320s in 2019. Avianca Argentina will operate two class A320s on international routes, with a small business class cabin, and single class A320s on domestic trunk routes.
Transcript
German Efromovich:We are getting— this month we get another 4 turboprops down there, and by August we'll get the first 2 A320s, the jets that will do the route Buenos Aires-São Paulo. With the jets, we will start doing São Paulo. Okay, and the rest is the network with the turboprops inside Argentina, mainly where the jets doesn't fly. Not only to feed our but to feed the Avianca Holdings network. We're starting also flying a Mendoza Lima. Okay, and we we we fly Lima Ezeiza. Bogotá, Ezeiza, and we'll fly São Paulo. So we will also feed our own network with the turboprops. We are, as you know, the beginning of that operation was delayed due to accusations that came in that we were being like fronting the Macri family, some political problems between them, because we bought Before the election, we bought the license. We bought from the Macri family. They are businessmen there, and they had a small airline, and we bought the license in Aeroparque. Okay, so we end up like a year and a half in court to do that. And we said we would be more than glad that if that would be true, there's nothing wrong to be partners with successful businessmen in Argentina. Right? But that— there was like 14 different cases against President Macri from the opposition, all kinds of rubbish, you know? And we were one of those. So this delayed us for almost 1 year starting operations. But other than that, we're very happy with beginning. The 2 planes are flying. Everybody is loving the services. It's the same level of services we're doing the rest in the region. As you know, for the second year in a row, Skytrax gave us the award as the best airline in the region. You know, so we're happy. We know how to deal with inflation and with depreciation and all that thing. You know why? Because they see the opportunity. And there is room. As long as they will do and they will perform well, they will do well. Argentina is a big market. Argentina is way behind its necessities in its demand. We are there. We are there to stay. We will end up this year with 7 ATR 600 and 3 jets. We're planning to introduce 8 jets next year. And this is part of our growing plan over there. The domestic will be all economy. The international will have European business class where you have the international mean 2.5 to 3 hours flight. Okay, so you don't need to have a very huge business class or sleeping, a flat bed for And we are not intending to fly widebodies from Argentina yet. Well, Aeromar, we didn't take over yet. We are kind of consulting Aeromar to help them reorganize the company. And they did, I think, with our help. They already have a complete renewed fleet in their turboprops. They are intending to get 3 jets this year. Okay. We think until the end of the year, if the conditions come true, we might be part of Aeromar. Okay. That is going well, but it's not closed. Okay. And that will be our intervention in that market. So Avianca, if that happens, will be covering from the border with the US till the Antarctica.
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