The Argentinian ultra-low-cost carrier Flybondi is looking to heavily increase its capacity this winter season by adding 30% more flights in December. Fueled by its Boeing 737-800 fleet, which has doubled in size within the last year, the company is looking to increase its presence in Argentina and Brazil.

Extra capacity for the summer season

The summer season has just begun in the Southern Hemisphere, and Flybondi is looking to take advantage of the travel demand. Overall, Flybondi aims to increase its capacity by 30% compared to the previous months, adding new flight frequencies on 80% of all its domestic and international routes.

With this increase, Flybondi will operate 441 weekly flights with more than 70,000 seats of capacity available on 22 routes across Argentina and three international services to Brazil, its only foreign destination so far. That’s approximately 63 daily flights for the Argentinian ultra-low-cost carrier.

Flybondi has increased the number of weekly frequencies on 14 domestic routes, mostly leaving from Buenos Aires. The route between Buenos Aires and Iguazú will be the most important one for the airline in this period, with 26 weekly flights, followed by Buenos Aires-Mendoza (23 weekly flights), Buenos Aires-Salta (18), Buenos Aires-Córdoba (14), and Buenos Aires-Neuquén (13). Additionally, Flybondi is looking to add more capacity to its international route map.

A Flybondi Boeing 737-800
Photo: Getty Images.

The return to its third Brazilian destination

Today Flybondi also resumed its third international route, the daily flight between Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) and Florianópolis International Airport (FLN). The flights FO5950 and FO5951 were paused in March 2022. The first service back to Florianopolis left at 00:55 local time, arriving in Florianópolis about two hours later. Flybondi employed its Boeing 737-800 registration LV-KCE to operate this service, according to data by FlightRadar24.com.

Regarding the other two international routes, Flybondi will increase its Buenos Aires-Sao Paulo Guarulhos service this month from four weekly flights to six. The Buenos Aires-Rio de Janeiro route will increase from two daily frequencies to three as of January.

Flybondi is the fourth most important airline in the Argentina-Brazil market as of December 2022, according to data by Cirium. GOL Linhas Aéreas currently operates 67 weekly flights, followed by its partner Aerolíneas Argentinas with 64 weekly flights and LATAM with 37. Overall there are 221 weekly frequencies between both countries, 9.8% below pre-pandemic traffic levels.

A Flybondi aircraft
Photo: Flybondi.

Flybondi’s fleet

The increase in weekly frequencies for the summer season by Flybondi is fueled by the airline’s new aircraft. In the last year, Flybondi has heavily invested in adding narrowbody jets to its fleet, going from five at the start of the year to ten in December.

Last month, Flybondi received its ninth and tenth Boeing 737-800s and announced it would add two new planes before the year ends. Moreover, Flybondi signed new deals with leasing companies to increase its fleet to approximately 17 aircraft in 2023. Despite being an ultra-low-cost carrier Flybondi is not currently looking to acquire new jets. Instead, it is going to the second-hand market, and the average age of its fleet is around eleven to twelve years old. Other ULCCs in the region, such as Ultra Air and the now defunct Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos, launched similar strategies, acquiring older Airbus A320ceos. Still, there’s also the experience of Dominican carrier Arajet which decided to invest in brand-new Boeing 737 MAX units.

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