Aerolineas Argentina Drops JFK+United Doubles Down on EZE+Delta Adds EZE
Intro
A couple of days ago Aerolineas Argentina announced that it would pull out of its 3x weekly service from Buenos Aires to New York Kennedy. Aerolineas Argentina started operating this route in 2013 full-time, and for the last 11 years, it has been gathering a net loss in this market. Frankly, it's not hard to understand why as many competitors have superior hard products from the US to EZE. With the market in New York consisting of two daily flights, one on a 777-200 with American Airlines, and a Delta A330-900neo, it would have been tough for Aerolineas Argentina to continue this route.
United Doubles Down
Now, here's what I find particularly interesting. Aerolineas Argentina announced its dropping of the route about 6 days ago, and United has come on since to announce a double down from Houston into Buenos Aires. Perhaps they already had this planned out or perhaps they see an opportunity in the market. With Skyteam and OW already operating the NYC hub, United has opted to double down 3x weekly later in the year.
The Flights are due to operate with a 777-200 on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday on the outbound. Following that the 777-200 will sit on the ground for about 11 hours before making its return overnight back to Houston Texas (IAH).
My Thoughts
Aerolineas Argentina is a can of worms that I am not sure I am trying to open here. There is a problematic situation ongoing with them, which doesn't seem to have much hope of getting better. However, we can obviously see that American carriers have the ability to capitalize on this situation since there will be no true Argentinian carrier to fly to any place other than Miami in the US. What does this mean for passengers?
Although the hard product on United is a lot better than the Aerolinea Argentina, it also comes with a more expensive fare in business class. If we take a look at some dates out of Miami, a return flight costs over half the cost in business class compared to American Airlines. Supply and demand am I right? I reckon we might see a steady increase in flight prices, especially with United.
It's not all bad news though, as even Delta has upgraded their route to an A330-900neo representing a far superior hard product on this route.
Final Thoughts
It's interesting to hear that Aerolineas Argentina has pulled out of JFK, although it does make sense due to their net loss in the market. United has doubled down on Houston 3x a week and Delta has upgraded their aircraft to an A330-900neo. A lot of moving pieces are going on in Buenos Aires in the aviation industry, and I look forward to seeing where this leads.
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