Aerolineas Argentinas To Cancel Buenos Aires-New York Route

Summary

• Argentina’s flag carrier, Aerolíneas Argentinas, will suspend its New York JFK route in August 2024.
• The New York route is unprofitable, resulting in significant losses for the airline.
• Aerolíneas Argentinas will instead increase capacity on profitable routes to Miami and Madrid.

Argentina’s flag carrier, Aerolíneas Argentinas, is to suspend its route to New York John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) as of August 2024 as it looks to consolidate its international network to more profitable destinations. This includes flights to Miami and Madrid, which will see additional capacity as the carrier frees up its aircraft.

According to the Argentinian business daily, El Cronista, services to New York have been deemed unprofitable, causing hefty losses for the airline and prompting a re-evaluation of its international network.

Current operation

Aerolíneas Argentinas connects the capital, Buenos Aires, with New York three times a week with its fleet of Airbus A330s. Compared to its other destinations, a thrice-weekly operation is nothing significant. For instance, its services to Madrid stand at 11 weekly flights, rising to 14 weekly between June 29 and August 10.

The airline flies to New York on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and offers 816 seats per week, per April 2024 data from Cirium. The route has intense competition from two larger US airlines, Delta and American Airlines. Both offer daily services, providing upwards of 1900 seats per week. This difference is quite important: more significant capacity generally means more flexibility in pricing and customer attractivity.

American Airlines uses a fleet of Boeing 777-200 and 777-200ER aircraft, while Delta uses the Airbus A330-900neo. Simple Flying understands that Aerolíneas Argentinas will place its code on Delta Air Lines services between Buenos Aires and New York once it suspends its own. Simple Flying has contacted the airline for a comment and will update this article with any response.

$1 million in losses

Sources told local Argentinian media that the airline will indefinitely suspend its route to New York JFK as of August 10. The move will allow the carrier to “increase the productivity of its fleet by deploying them to more profitable destinations.” This includes services to Miami and Madrid.

The flight between the two cities generated losses of US$250,000 exclusively for February and March. In turn, the airline estimates more than US$1 million in losses by the end of December for the entirety of 2024. The company says:

“The decision reflects the consolidation of a permanent evaluation policy on the profitability of routes faced with an extremely volatile aviation market.”

Flights to New York JFK will continue as usual through August 10, from which point customers “will be able to continue flying to NYC through codeshare flights offered with our partner Delta.” The Argentinian airline will also propose alternatives via Miami.

Increases to Miami and Madrid

As such, services will end on August 10 as the airline deploys its aircraft on routes to Madrid and Miami, which will see frequency increases push the total operation to twice daily on each of the routes, “in addition to having resources to increase frequencies to the Caribbean and Rome.”

Miami has the highest concentration of Argentinians in the United States, while Spain has the largest diaspora outside of Argentina. This, in addition to political and economic ties and lower airport costs, makes Madrid and Miami better options financially.

Cirium data shows increases in the Miami operation for September 2024 to double daily. Flights to Madrid will move to 11 weekly flights, with double daily service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

Have you ever flown with Aerolíneas Argentinas from Buenos Aires to New York? Let us know in the comments below.

• 

  New York JFK Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  JFK/KJFK

  Country:

  United States

  CEO:

  Rick Cotton (Executive Director of Port Authority of NY and NJ)

  Passenger Count :

  16,630,642 (2020)

  Runways :

  4L/22R – 3,682m (12,079 ft) |4R/22L – 2,560m (8,400 ft) |13L/31R – 3,048m (10,000 ft) |13R/31L – 4,423m (14,511 ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal 1 |Terminal 2 |Terminal 4 |Terminal 5 |Terminal 7 |Terminal 8

• 

  Aerolíneas Argentinas

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AR/ARG

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Ezeiza International Airport, Aeroparque Jorge Newbery

  Year Founded:

  1949

  Alliance:

  SkyTeam

  CEO:

  Pablo Ceriani

  Country:

  Argentina

  Region:

  South America