During the MRO Latin America 2023 held in Buenos Aires, Aerolíneas Argentinas CEO Pablo Ceriani, announced that new aircraft would be joining the company’s fleet this year. Recently, it was revealed that the state-owned airline reserved five registrations: two for Airbus A330 and three for Boeing 737 MAX.
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Aerolíneas Argentinas’ Boeing 737 MAX
Ceriani confirmed that in 2023 the company will receive three additional Boeing 737-8 aircraft, reaching a fleet of ten of the same model by the end of this year. These will be joined by those scheduled for delivery in 2024 and 2025, raising the total to 17 aircraft of that variant.
The Boeing 737 MAX will carry the registrations LV-KIT, KIU, and KIV. According to internal company sources, one of the aircraft will go to the Military Aviation School in Córdoba for painting tasks at the Argentine Aircraft Factory (FAdeA).
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Like their last two MAX received, these aircraft would belong to Belavia, which, due to the sanctions imposed on Russia, has not received – and will not receive – the aircraft. According to the blog 737-max-production, there are more than a dozen Boeing 737s undelivered to Russian and Belarusian airlines.
More Airbus A330s for Aerolíneas Argentinas
Aerolíneas Argentinas’ CEO also stated that the airline plans to order four Airbus A330-900 aircraft, but did not provide further details about the potential deal.
However, the company is focused on recovering the fleet it had before the pandemic. The state-owned company reserved two registrations for the A330-200: LV-KHT and LV-KHU.
Aviacionline contacted Aerolíneas Argentinas regarding these registrations. In response, they did not rule out the addition of new Airbus A330s but clarified that it is part of an open Request for Proposal (RFP) and no contract has been signed with any bidder yet.
During the health crisis, various airlines expedited the retirement of aircraft as part of efforts to reduce the impact of the pandemic.
Aerolíneas Argentinas currently has eight Airbus A330-200 aircraft, while in 2019 it had ten A330s. In 2014, its long-haul fleet consisted of twelve A340-300 and A330-200 aircraft.
Currently, the company operates long-haul flights with the A330 to Miami (MIA) and New York (JFK), United States; Cancun (CUN), Mexico; Rome/Fiumicino (FCO), Italy; and Madrid (MAD), Spain.
The addition of the two aircraft will allow it to recover the frequencies it had before the pandemic. According to the Cirium platform and the company’s latest announcements, flights with the wide-body fleet will increase significantly starting in July.
According to Cirium, the increase will allow a 97% recovery of frequencies compared to the period of July 2019.
- Cancun will go from 3 to 4 weekly flights.
- Rome will go from 4 to 5 flights per week.
- Miami and Madrid will go from 9 to 12 flights per week.
- Havana (HAV), Cuba, will have direct weekly flights with Buenos Aires starting in July.
- Punta Cana will return with the A330s starting in July.
