Argentinian readers rejoice, for you now have a new low-cost-carrier, Norwegian Air Argentina!

Following through on their announcement to bring low cost flying to the South American country this year, Norwegian Air has successfully begun operating in the country.

The service started this morning. Flying at 7:30 from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, in the City of Buenos Aires, arriving an hour or so later in Córdoba, at the Ambrosio Taravella Engineer International Airport.

Norwegian Argentina Air currently has only one plane, a Boeing 737-800 (Transferred in from its European operations), that is servicing both the two routes (To Cordoba and Mendoza), with more routes opening as another nine new aircraft arrive.

There will be six routes: Cordoba, Mendoza, Iguazú, Neuquén, Bariloche and Salta.

The Argentinan government is fully behind Norwegians expansion, issuing the following (gushing) statement (Translated from Spanish):

Our local airline industry welcomes one of the largest airlines in the world, who came to invest and provide employment, who chose to bet on us, who trusted our pilots, cabin crew and mechanics, who chose to connect our cities, who trusted the Argentines, and since today many more people are going to be able to fly. No longer will the airplane be synonymous with privilege. - Guillermo Dietrich, Minister of Transportation

Another flight took off to Mendoza later in the day, heralding in competition to the recently deregulated airline industry.  Both these two tickets cost around $349 (Cordoba) and $449 (Mendoza).

Until recently, Argentina had some the highest domestic airfares in the world, and there was no profitable market for low-cost carriers. But since the government has deregulated the industry and allowed airlines to set their own prices, there has been an influx of new operators in an almost gold rush fashion.

Is the service integrated with other Norwegian routes?

As you may or may not know, Norwegian Air actually runs a route from London (Gatwick) to Buenos Aries. Now that they have domestic operations to link to their international route, can you actually book a follow through route on their website?

You can!

And when you search for it on the website, Argentina locations appear second in the drop-down list (In Alphabetical Order).

Overall this is fantastic for Argentina and will be a big win for Norwegian. We look forward to seeing how it grows over the next few years.