After the pandemic crisis and having been left without any operational aircraft in November 2020, Flybondi began the path of recovery in 2021 until it became the second airline in the Argentine market in October 2022 (photo: Esteban Brea).
It is no mystery that the Argentine economic reality is awful, the aeronautical legislation is outdated, and the aeronautical authorities do not really understand what they are up to. An awesome landscape… Hostile terrain for investment. Even so, private airlines are positive regarding the evolution of the Argentine market and continue to invest.
It is true that the Argentine aviation market is so underdeveloped that as soon as things are done well, it can only grow.
In this competitive dynamic, Flybondi announced (using official ANAC data) having achieved a share of 18% on domestic routes, which doubles the market share of 2019. An increase of 2% compared to August 2022.
These numbers allow Flybondi executives to assert that the company is consolidated as the second airline in the country. According to its own figures, the company would be transporting this year more than five million passengers on domestic and international routes.
The increase in market share responds to the increase in capacity with the arrival of new aircraft, the increase in routes and frequencies, the strategy of low prices as a stimulus to demand (and as an advertising strategy).
To all this, other factors must be added that are not directly linked to the company but that favor it, since internal competitors are reduced to two companies: Aerolíneas Argentinas and JetSMART, a few more if we look at international destinations.
Expansion of the Flybondi fleet
So far in 2022, the company has added four B737-800s, and recently added its eighth B738 to commercial service with a capacity for 189 passengers in a single class.
Lowcost expects another two aircraft to arrive before the end of October, and two additional ones by the end of 2022, with which the fleet at the end of the year would reach 12 aircraft. It also expects to incorporate more equipment in the first months of 2023 and have a total of 17 machines in service next year.
With a current load factor of 94%, the company hopes to consolidate its position and respond, according to its calculations, to an expected increase in demand. This increase in capacity allows it to add new routes and frequencies, adding four destinations to the network: Ushuaia, Puerto Madryn, El Calafate and Comodoro Rivadavia.
| Model | MSN | Register | Delivery date | Comments |
| 737-8U3 | 30147 | LV-KEF | 12/10/2022 | |
| 737-8U3 | 30149 | LV-KEG | 21/08/2022 | |
| 737-8U3 | 30150 | LV-KEH | 06/10/2022 | Leasing from Umb Bank |
| 737-8Q8 | 30701 | LV-KAY | 14/09/2021 | |
| 737-8Q8 | 30703 | LV-KAH | 21/07/2021 | |
| 737-8Q8 | 30720 | LV-KCE | 27/03/2022 | Leasing from Macquarie Airfinance |
| 737-8Q8 | 30734 | LV-HKN | 09/07/2019 | Stored from AUG2020 to FEB2021. Named: Sonic |
| 737-8AL | 35071 | LV-KCD | 15/01/2022 | Leasing from Macquarie Airfinance |
| 737-86N | 36808 | LV-KDQ | 24/07/2022 | Leasing from Aircastle |
| 737-86N | 37887 | LV-KDR | 14/06/2022 | Leasing from Aircastle |
| NOTE: Planes leased up to OCT2022 | ||||
The other Argentine lowcost operators
It is not ruled out that JetSMART adds more aircraft in the short term to generate a response for the summer season, in addition Aerolíneas Argentinas is still in recovery, and Andes Líneas Aéreas has just incorporated the B737-800 LV-KFW to the charter market.
Although the Argentine aviation sector is small, it is to be assumed that this post-pandemic effervescence will continue at least during the southern summer, although economic difficulties continue to lurk, legislators continue to invent taxes that threaten the passenger, and a year is coming electoral with what this means in Argentina.
