On November 1, the Argentinian Government opened the border for fully vaccinated international travelers. After more than one year and a half, people have been able to travel back to Argentina, and airlines have quickly restored many flights going into the country. In just the first week, the country received more than 200 international flights.
A jump of 900%
Argentina had one of the strictest travel restrictions worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At some point, Argentina only allowed 600 international passengers per day (either Argentinian citizens or foreign residents). The airline industry kept on asking for the reopening of the borders for months, to no avail. Finally, the Argentinian government decided to open up the country amid an electoral campaign.
First, the country allowed the entrance of people coming from border nations like Brazil and Chile. The Argentinian Government set up November 1 as the date to finally reopen the borders entirely. Every fully vaccinated people would be able to access Argentina.
This week, Argentina received 217 international flights, a 900% increase compared to the 24 flights the country had during July’s first week. Argentina received between 5,000 and 8,000 daily passengers.
Approximately 71% of all the international flights coming to Argentina landed at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, according to data provided by Cirium. A few landed at Buenos Aires’ second airport, Jorge Newbery Airfield, Mendoza, and Salta.
Which airlines are flying to Argentina?
On July 1, Argentina had international connectivity with 11 countries worldwide. It had 24 weekly flights operated by 13 carriers.
Fast-forward five months, Argentina has international connectivity with 22 carriers, serving 217 weekly frequencies from 16 countries.
The United States had the most number of weekly frequencies going into Argentina, with 49. Aerolíneas Argentinas, United, American Airlines, and Delta flew between both countries. Chile had 41 flights this week, operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas, LATAM (both Brazil and Chile’s branches), Sky, and JetSmart (both Argentina and Chile’s branches).
Other important markets were Brazil (30 weekly frequencies), Spain (17), and Colombia (16).
The Argentinian Government stated,
“Besides Aerolíneas Argentinas, we have international operations from Lufthansa, Boliviana de Aviación, JetSmart Chile, JetSmart Argentina, Latam Airlines, Latam Perú, Latam Brasil, Sky Airline, Avianca, American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, Air Europa, Iberia, Air France, KLM, Aeroméxico, COPA Airlines, Paranair, Swiss Air, and Turkish.
Moreover, we had an increase in the scheduled connectivity with more countries like Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the US, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.”
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What can we expect going forward?
Despite opening up the border, Argentina is far from fully recovering its international connectivity.
In a single week back in November 2019, Argentina had 787 scheduled international flights, according to Cirium. The country is still 70% below its pre-pandemic numbers.
There are a few key carriers that haven’t restored their connectivity to Argentina. Some of these airlines are Azul, GOL, British Airways, Air New Zealand, and Qatar Airways.
In December, the airlines are scheduling 314 weekly flights to Argentina, a 33.6% increase compared to November. The most important route will be LATAM’s Santiago de Chile-Buenos Aires with 16 weekly flights, according to Cirium. Moreover, Argentina will see back some flights like LATAM’s Miami-Buenos Aires and Copa Airlines’ Panama-Cordoba.
What do you think of Argentina’s international recovery? Let us know in the comments below.