Routes Americas is the great annual meeting of airline decision makers across America, that is to say, when airlines negotiate with destinations for establishing new routes and more frequencies. In its relentless pursuit of increasing Argentina’s inbound tourism, INPROTUR participated in the event that took place in San Antonio (Texas), from February 15th and 17th and held key meetings with 10 airlines.
Ricardo Sosa, executive secretary of the National Institute of Tourism Promotion (INPROTUR), assured, “One of our main goals is increasing the number of travellers coming to our country to outdo the pre-pandemic levels. International tourism reactivation is crucial for the development of Argentinian economy.”
The meetings between the INPROTUR and the airlines are detailed below:
JetBlue Airways
Discussions were initiated to explore the possibility of operating flights from its hub in Fort Lauderdale to the north of Argentina (Iguazú, Tucumán, and Salta).
Viva Air
Discussions regarding the upcoming announcement about this-year start of operations to Argentina continued.
Sky Airline
Topics on the route plan to Argentina for the next two years were explored.
AirTransat
Negotiations move forward, and this Canadian company shows interest in starting three weekly frequencies between Montreal and Buenos Aires in Airbus A330 by the end of the year.
United Airlines
Negotiations continued to revive flight services between USA’s and Argentina’s capitals (ended in 2016).
Delta Airlines
Besides the post-pandemic issues for the lack of certified pilots, the company is working towards increasing its seat offer from Atlanta to Argentina by the end of this year, or beginning of the following year.
Singapore Airlines
In a meeting with the Director for America, the possibility of extending their daily flights Singapore – Johannesburg to Buenos Aires was explored. This would be a similar route as that operated by Malaysia Airlines in the past, but with daily frequencies from 2023.
Gol
In a meeting with the Planning Director, the next routes to regain post-pandemic were explored:
São Paulo – Mendoza
Twice a day, SAO – AEP
São Paulo – Bariloche
Brasília – Buenos Aires
From October, flights from Salvador, Fortaleza, and Recife.
The possibility of operating a non-stop flight to Patagonia (GRU – Calafate/Ushuaia) is also being analysed.
Wingo
There was an initial meeting with this Colombian low-cost airline to enable routes to Argentina by 2023.
Copa Air Reactivations of the routes from the Hub in Panama to Rosario and Mendoza were analysed. In addition, the possibilities of reinitiating a route to Salta and opening a new one to Tucumán were explored.
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