MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Aerolineas Argentinas announces daily flights to New York after five years of absence

The daily flight will be in Airbus 330-200 which has 264 seats

Argentina’s state-run airline and flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas announced this week it will resume its direct flights to New York that were terminated five years ago. On December 15, the company will be offering a daily flight from Ezeiza airport to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.

“The flights will be at night both ways, allowing for connections with the services provided by other SkyTeam strategic partners from New York, and with Aerolíneas Argentinas’ flights from Terminal C at Ezeiza’s International Airport, to and from Argentina and neighbouring countries,” the airline said in a statement.

Aerolíneas Argentinas had suspended its flights to New York in April 2008 during the company’s private management by Spanish-based Grupo Marsans.

“The recovery of this flight route is part of the 2010-2014 Business Plan developed by the company and approved by Congress. New York is one of the three main international destinations for Argentine passengers,” said Aerolíneas Argentinas.

Currently, the service is only provided by the US carrier American Airlines. United Airlines has announced it will suspend its flights direct flights to and from New York in September, citing low demand. United Airlines’ argument to suspend its Buenos Aires-New York service caused some concern in the sector after Aerolíneas Argentinas made its announcement.

“This came as a surprise to the tourism sector. United suspends its service due to low demand, so how will Aerolíneas Argentinas compete against American, if it has older planes and less business class capacity? From a business point of view, it doesn’t sound like a very good decision,” Humberto Lavezollo, from Periclos tourism agency, told the Herald.

American Airlines provides a daily flight to New York, which is used mainly by business class passengers. The American Airline flights carry a larger amount of business and first class seats, thus making the flight more cost effective, explained Lavezollo.

Aerolíneas Argentinas will be using Airbus 330-200 planes, which have 264 seats, divided in two classes: 22 Cóndor Club seats and 242 Economy class seats.

“Aerolíneas Argentinas continues on a path of constant growth. The New York service responds to a scheme to optimize the short and medium range service. The services we offer on our aircraft have been designed to provide a world-class experience to meet our passengers’ highest expectations,” said Mariano Recalde, the Aerolíneas Argentinas CEO.