Avianca Argentina, legally incorporated as Avian Líneas Aéreas S.A., was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

headquartered in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, with its operational hub at

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Jorge Newbery Airfield ( es, link=no, Aeroparque "Jorge Newbery", ), commonly known as Aeroparque, is an international airport northeast of downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airport covers an area of and is operated by ''Aeropuertos Argen ...

in the city. The airline operated commercially under the ''Avianca'' brand through a license agreement; however, it was independent of the

Avianca Holdings Avianca Group International Limited (formerly Avianca Holdings S.A. and AviancaTaca Holding Inc.) is a pan-regional Latin American multinational airline holding company with its registered office in St Albans, England, and its global headquarter ...

. The airline ceased all operations on 7 June 2019.

History

The airline was founded in March 2016, after Synergy Group, the parent company of

, acquired Argentina-based charter airline Macair Jet. In November 2016, Synergy Aerospace announced a firm order for the purchase of 12

ATR 72-600 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed ...

s for the airline to be operated under the ''Avianca'' brand. The first ATR 72 was delivered on 13 January 2017. Following the use of the two ATR 72 aircraft for charter flights from July 2017, the airline began scheduled services on 21 November 2017. The airline originally planned to operate passenger and cargo flights both internationally and within Argentina from a primary hub at

Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport Teniente Benjamín Matienzo International Airport is an international airport east of the city of San Miguel de Tucumán in Argentina. It serves Tucumán Province in the north of the country. It was built in 1981, and its terminal was inaugu ...

serving

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (; usually called simply Tucumán) is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario an ...

, with a fleet of

Airbus A320-200 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

aircraft. The initial plans included the transferal of Airbus A320s from Avianca Brasil, followed by the launch of international services to

São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport is the primary international airport serving São Paulo. It is popularly known locally as either ''Cumbica Airport'', after the district where it is located and the ...

on 5 February 2019. However, by January 2019, Avianca Argentina's plans for international services were canceled, with its sole Airbus A320 to be returned to Avianca Brasil (later taken up by

LATAM Brasil LATAM Airlines Brasil, formerly TAM Linhas Aéreas, is the Brazilian brand of LATAM Airlines Group and one of the largest airlines in the country. According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), between January and December 20 ...

), as the Argentine airline cited rising operating costs due to the weakening of the

Argentine peso The peso (established as the ''peso convertible'') is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 ''centavos''. Its ISO 4 ...

relative to the strengthening

United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

. By April 2019, Avianca Argentina was reported to be struggling, having cut its route network to two destinations from the five it had planned to operate from Buenos Aires, and employing as many as 80 pilots while the airline's fleet remained at two aircraft, out of the four aircraft it had originally planned to operate at the time. The airline's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Carlos Colunga described the conditions as "unsustainable" and attributed the operational difficulties to the strengthening US dollar and rising fuel costs. On 7 June 2019, the airline requested a 90-day suspension of operations starting from 9 June in order to restructure the company, but the airline subsequently ceased operations. As of September 2021, the airline is looking into restarting operations sometime.

Destinations

Avianca Argentina served or previously served the following destinations by the time of the airline's closure in June 2019:

Fleet

, before service was suspended, the Avianca Argentina fleet included the following aircraft:

Retired fleet

LV-ZPW BAe Jetstream 31 Macair Jet (7317014220)

Macair Jet, and later Avianca Argentina, formerly operated the following aircraft:

References

External links