Norwegian Air Argentina
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Norwegian Air Argentina S.A.U. was an Argentine
low-cost airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
. The airline operated
Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...
aircraft, with bases 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 ...
and Córdoba. All aircraft were registered in Argentina. On 4 December 2019, parent company
Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norwegian low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the second-largest airline in Scandinavia ...
sold the airline to
JetSmart JetSmart Airlines SpA, stylized as JetSMART, is a South American ultra low-cost carrier created by US investment fund (and co-founder of LBM Fermin Ithuralde) Indigo Partners, which also controls low-cost carriers like US airline Frontier Airli ...
, which took over operation of the airline and its license with immediate effect, with JetSmart planning to merge Norwegian Air Argentina's operations with those of
JetSmart Argentina JetSmart Airlines S.A., styled as JetSMART, is an Argentine airline owned by ultra low-cost carrier JetSmart, itself owned by Indigo Partners, a firm that also has stakes in US-based Frontier Airlines, Mexico-based Volaris, and Hungary-base ...
. By November 2020, the airline was inoperative with its aircraft placed in long-term storage since March 2020, with the aircraft returning to Norwegian's operations in Europe at a later date.


History

Norwegian Air Argentina was established on 25 January 2017, in order to access future traffic rights to and from
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 ...
and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
for the parent company. Norwegian Air Shuttle,
Norwegian Air International Norwegian Air International was an Irish airline and fully integrated subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, using its corporate identity. It operated flights to destinations in Europe and the Middle East from various European bases, and was head ...
, Norwegian Air UK and Norwegian Air Argentina share the same branding under the Norwegian Group. The airline took delivery of its first aircraft, a
Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...
, in mid-January 2018, and gained its
air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...
later that month. The aircraft was transferred from Norwegian's Irish subsidiary
Norwegian Air International Norwegian Air International was an Irish airline and fully integrated subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, using its corporate identity. It operated flights to destinations in Europe and the Middle East from various European bases, and was head ...
, and its
Anders Celsius Anders Celsius (; 27 November 170125 April 1744) was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germ ...
tailfin portrait was replaced by a portrait of Astor Piazzola, an Argentine musician. However, according to
Bjørn Kjos Bjørn Kjos (born 18 July 1946) is a Norwegian aviator, lawyer, and business magnate. He is best known as the founder and CEO of Norwegian Air Shuttle, briefly Scandinavia's largest airline, and Europe's third largest low-cost airline. Early ...
, the parent company's CEO, due to delays in Boeing 737 MAX deliveries resulting in further delays to the airline starting service, the aircraft was transferred back to operate on the Norwegian Group's network in Europe while the start of operations was moved from August 2018 to October 2018. In August 2018,
Bjørn Kjos Bjørn Kjos (born 18 July 1946) is a Norwegian aviator, lawyer, and business magnate. He is best known as the founder and CEO of Norwegian Air Shuttle, briefly Scandinavia's largest airline, and Europe's third largest low-cost airline. Early ...
announced that the airline would begin selling tickets from 4 September 2018, for flights beginning service on 16 October 2018. Upon ticket reservations opening, the first planned services were revealed to operate from Buenos Aires Aeroparque to Córdoba, Mendoza,
Neuquén Neuquén (; arn, Nehuenken) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén river ...
,
Puerto Iguazú Puerto Iguazú is a border city in the province of Misiones, Argentina. With a population of 82,227 (), it is the fourth largest city in the Province, after Posadas, Oberá, and Eldorado. The world-renowned Iguazú Falls are only away from ...
,
Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...
, and San Carlos de Bariloche. In preparation for the inaugural start of operations, the airline's first Boeing 737-800 was transferred back from
Norwegian Air International Norwegian Air International was an Irish airline and fully integrated subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, using its corporate identity. It operated flights to destinations in Europe and the Middle East from various European bases, and was head ...
and flown from
Stockholm Arlanda Airport Stockholm Arlanda Airport is an international airport located in the Sigtuna Municipality of Sweden, near the town of Märsta, north of Stockholm and nearly south-east of Uppsala. The airport is located within Stockholm County and the provi ...
to Ezeiza International Airport between 5 and 6 October 2018, with technical stops at
Gran Canaria Airport Gran Canaria Airport , sometimes also known as Gando Airport ( es, Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria), is a passenger and freight airport on the island of Gran Canaria. It is an important airport within the Spanish air-transport network (owned and manag ...
and
Greater Natal International Airport Rio Grande do Norte/São Gonçalo do Amarante–Governador Aluízio Alves International Airport is an airport in São Gonçalo do Amarante, Brazil serving Natal and its metropolitan area. The airport is managed by Consortium Inframérica. His ...
, before the aircraft was ferried to
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 ...
on 15 October 2018. On 16 October 2018, Norwegian Air Argentina inaugurated service with three daily round trip flights; the first flight operated as flight DN 6022 from Buenos Aires Aeroparque to Córdoba, taking off at 07:41 and landing at 08:45 local time, followed by a round trip flight from Buenos Aires to Mendoza and a second daily frequency to Córdoba. In April 2019, following the grounding of the Norwegian Group's
Boeing 737 MAX 8 The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with th ...
aircraft, the airline transferred one of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft back to Norwegian Air International to assist with the Norwegian Group's operations in Europe. In June 2019, the airline announced service to five additional destinations from Buenos Aires Aeroparque to begin from September 2019, consisting of Comodoro Rivadavia,
Puerto Madryn Puerto Madryn (; cy, Porth Madryn), also known as ''Madryn'', is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010. Puer ...
, San Salavador de Jujuy,
Trelew Trelew (, from cy, tref "town" and the name of the founder, Lewis Jones) is a city in the eastern part of the Chubut Province of Argentina. Located in Patagonia, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the Chubut River, wi ...
, and
Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's souther ...
, however by September 2019, only the routes to San Salvador de Jujuy and Ushuaia ultimately launched. Following the departure of Bjørn Kjos as parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle's CEO in July 2019, interim CEO Geir Karlsen stated that Norwegian Air Argentina's operations would be reviewed, with an August 2019 deadline for financial results to improve, and tickets for flights were not sold beyond 28 March 2020. On 4 December 2019, Norwegian Air Argentina was sold for an undisclosed amount to Indigo Partners subsidiary and Chilean low-cost airline
JetSmart JetSmart Airlines SpA, stylized as JetSMART, is a South American ultra low-cost carrier created by US investment fund (and co-founder of LBM Fermin Ithuralde) Indigo Partners, which also controls low-cost carriers like US airline Frontier Airli ...
, which took over operations of the airline with immediate effect. For the months following the sale, JetSmart had planned to phase out the Norwegian brand and integrate the airline with its own Argentine airline
JetSmart Argentina JetSmart Airlines S.A., styled as JetSMART, is an Argentine airline owned by ultra low-cost carrier JetSmart, itself owned by Indigo Partners, a firm that also has stakes in US-based Frontier Airlines, Mexico-based Volaris, and Hungary-base ...
. Norwegian Air Argentina's three Boeing 737 aircraft, owned by
Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norwegian low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the second-largest airline in Scandinavia ...
but registered in Argentina, were not among the company's assets sold to JetSmart, and were planned to be returned to Norwegian's Europe-based operations while JetSmart would instate Airbus A320 family aircraft in their place. In the months following the transfer of most of Norwegian Air Argentina's assets and operations to JetSmart in December 2019, JetSmart had
wet-lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...
d Norwegian's Boeing 737s to operate the airline's flights at Aeroparque while renaming the company to "JetSmart Regional". This was in contrast to JetSmart's operations at
El Palomar Airport El Palomar Airport is a commercial and military airport in El Palomar, Argentina. It is the home base for the 1st Air Brigade ( es, link=no, Primera Brigada Aérea) of the Argentine Air Force, which is mainly a transportation unit. It is locat ...
, which were separately listed as being operated by
JetSmart Argentina JetSmart Airlines S.A., styled as JetSMART, is an Argentine airline owned by ultra low-cost carrier JetSmart, itself owned by Indigo Partners, a firm that also has stakes in US-based Frontier Airlines, Mexico-based Volaris, and Hungary-base ...
, until JetSmart would launch its own A320 services at Aeroparque. JetSmart had also encountered obstacles during Norwegian Air Argentina's integration with JetSmart's own Argentina-based operations, including disagreements with unions representing Norwegian's employees over new job contracts following the retaining of their employment in the transfer, and that Argentina's Civil Aviation Administration had not yet authorized the transfer of Norwegian's route authorities to JetSmart Argentina in time for the return of Norwegian's 737s to Europe by the end of March 2020. In the uncertainty of its A320-based operations at Aeroparque going ahead, JetSmart sought to extend the wet-lease agreement of Norwegian's 737s to continue operating routes from Aeroparque, however following the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and its impacts on aviation, JetSmart ended the agreement by the end of May 2020 and the 737s remained stored since that March.


Destinations

On 25 October 2017, the
National Civil Aviation Administration The National Civil Aviation Administration ( es, Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil), otherwise known by its local initialism ANAC, is the civil aviation authority of Argentina. It was created by a presidential decree on 15 March 2007 to ...
granted the airline permission to begin operations on 152 of the 156 routes it requested. The airline has also applied and been given approval for flights from Buenos Aires to Perth and has also requested to extend the flight to Singapore. This flight would route around Antarctica, taking advantage of the winds circling the continent. The airline operated to the following destinations as of March 2020, prior to its aircraft being stored:


Fleet

The Norwegian Air Argentina fleet consisted of the following aircraft as of 19 March 2020, prior to being returned to Europe:


References


External links

{{Norwegian Air Shuttle Defunct airlines of Argentina Airlines established in 2017 Airlines disestablished in 2021 Norwegian Air Shuttle Low-cost carriers Argentine companies established in 2017