Argentina re-opening international flights in August!

[jeff1234]

As to what is happening in Canada, I can report firsthand.


If you say “just”, I take it you mean the flight that was delayed by a day?
Did this relative have Argentine papers?

Yes and Yes

 

[TheDonald]

American scrapped the LAX flight indefinitely. DFW and JFK have been canceled thru last week of October. MIA-EZE will operate only x1 a day from second week of September (subject to change).

Curtailment of the EZE - JFK direct flight tells us what American thinks in the near to intermediate term. That is a city pair, only 10 to 11 hours apart, with over 20 million people combined. Antipodean can probably bring greater insight, but my guess is American forecasts the outbound Argentine traffic will be too small to justify a direct connection.

 

[Dhatfield]

Does anybody know if it’s a requirement to arrive in Buenos Aires 24hrs before your flight? I seen that they mentioned hotel reservation on the list.

 

[antipodean]

Curtailment of the EZE - JFK direct flight tells us what American thinks in the near to intermediate term. That is a city pair, only 10 to 11 hours apart, with over 20 million people combined. Antipodean can probably bring greater insight, but my guess is American forecasts the outbound Argentine traffic will be too small to justify a direct connection.

Correct. There are two separate subjects at play, having flights and being able to make use of said flights.

While some flights will return soon enough some important things need to be considered that will keep loads and frequencies light in the mid-term:

• Entry restrictions in Argentina (e.g. will non-residents be permitted or not)
• Entry restrictions at Destination (e.g. will non-residents be permitted or not, most Americans including US citizens and Argentines without dual nationality are forbidden to enter Europe, most of Asia, Australasia, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay etc.)
• Quarantine restrictions in Argentina (e.g. 14 days in quarantine really kills tourism and business travel, especially for those with "essential" jobs that require mobility in their place of residence)
• Quarantine restrictions at Destination (as above)
• Travel restrictions applicable to certain nationalities and residents (e.g. residents of Australia are generally not allowed to travel abroad and must obtain special permission from Australian government to leave Australia, despite being allowed to visit much of Asia and Europe without quarantines there etc.)
• Price of tourism dollar vs. decreased earnings and uncertainty for Argentines
• Personal risk factor (e.g. would anyone who wants to minimize their chances of getting the virus seriously travel somewhere utterly infested like the US or Brazil for non-essential reasons)
• Price of flights (likely to be significantly more expensive sooner than expected)

That said all of the AFKL flights and IB flights to Europe have been almost completely full. My observation is that it is an initial exodus as to be expected. Sooner of later we run out of Argentines with EU citizenship and money to spend going abroad and EU nationals who thought the lockdown would be over by now and decided to cut their losses and return home.

Industry does not feel that international tourism and less essential business travel will really resume again for at least another year.
Fares are also starting to get rather expensive since capacity projected to be available in the later part of 2020 is already drying up.

 

[ben]

Historically the market has not been able to support more than 2 flights to NYC per day.

In 2011 or 2012 United switched their 2nd daily BUE flight from Washington to Newark. This lasted for a year or two, only once United withdrew from this market then Aerolineas Argentinas entered.

In 2016, presumably in response to the new government and business climate, United re-entered the market. Demand did not increase to meet the added capacity, and sub-$700 fares became a normal occurrence, especially in the off-season. Aerolíneas downgraded their flight to 3-4 flights per week, and United exited the market altogether.

American remained the only airline to fly daily. They have a pretty major hub at JFK, which made the route more worthwhile. But in the age of coronavirus, if they can’t easily fill even a flight to Miami, NYC becomes tenuous.

As for Europe, if sustained demand appears, there is a lot of latent capacity that can be reintroduced into the system.

 

[Somewhereinba]

Is there an updated list of approved flights - I'm guessing there are no flights to Brazil?

 

[antipodean]

Brazilian flights are still all "scheduled" for SEP.

However the closer we get to AUG, the more I doubt this will happen. With COVID still climbing steeply uphill in both countries, entry restrictions in both countries are expected to remain in force preventing tourism or business travel. Given the amount of Brazilians living here and visa versa, it is reasonable still to expect some flights may resume in SEP, even if the rights to use them are somewhat limited.

Still not seen a confirmed schedule beyond 15JUL but AFKL and IB flights will continue through AUG and gradually increase frequencies.

There are also increasing rumors that a few more foreign airlines may chop EZE / Argentina altogether soon.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

It is my opinion, that most world travel is on the shelf at least through the end of this year and quite possibly for 3 to 6 more months beyond.

Given the amount of infections around the world, the hysteria associated with what is going on, there can be no other outcome.

Where ever we each are ... we are here for a while to come. So we all need to get comfortable and settle in. (Sorry to say.)

 

[Dougie]

Brazilian flights are still all "scheduled" for SEP.

However the closer we get to AUG, the more I doubt this will happen. With COVID still climbing steeply uphill in both countries, entry restrictions in both countries are expected to remain in force preventing tourism or business travel. Given the amount of Brazilians living here and visa versa, it is reasonable still to expect some flights may resume in SEP, even if the rights to use them are somewhat limited.

Still not seen a confirmed schedule beyond 15JUL but AFKL and IB flights will continue through AUG and gradually increase frequencies.

There are also increasing rumors that a few more foreign airlines may chop EZE / Argentina altogether soon.

Do you agree with Bajo that we won't see international flights in Argentina regularize until at least March 2021, and perhaps later?

 

[Ceviche]

Do you agree with Bajo that we won't see international flights in Argentina regularize until at least March 2021, and perhaps later?

Its a highly possible likelihood.