Following yesterday’s announcement from Aviacionline regarding the operation of charter flights by Boeing 737-700 T-99 of the Argentine Air Force contracted by Flybondi, the Ministry of Defense issued a statement on Monday explaining the basis of the agreement and how it originated.
According to the Ministry, on January 15, the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Matías Lammens, sent a note to Minister Jorge Taiana in which he requested that Líneas Aéreas del Estado, the development company dependent on the Argentine Air Force, agree on a charter operation that would allow Flybondi to fulfill a series of scheduled flights after an important part of the low-cost airline’s crews were isolated by COVID-19.
“The present summer season has high levels of tourist demand in our country exceeding, in the main destinations of each province, 90% occupancy,” Lammens pointed out in the letter.
“The current levels of demand and the different tourist regions and cities are registering important levels of economic reactivation, guaranteeing the full development of all the activities that make up the activity”, continued the Head of Tourism, for which reason “it is necessary to reinforce the scheduled flights and, therefore, the participation of Líneas Aéreas de Estado (LADE) is required to carry out a set of flights committed by the company FB LÍNEAS AÉREAS S.A. (Flybondi), which will be carried out by Flybondi. (Flybondi), which for operational reasons run the risk of not being able to be carried out, harming hundreds of passengers throughout the country”.
As we had informed, the operation, which started yesterday with flights to Tucumán and Trelew, will be extended until January 21 and will allow more than 3,000 passengers to travel, generating income for LADE, in an operation which is not unprecedented for the airline since it is usually contracted by private companies.
Flybondi will use the T-99 as a temporary measure after receiving yesterday its fifth Boeing 737-800, with registration LV-KCD.
The Boeing 737-76N, registration T-99 and named “Islas Malvinas” joined the I Air Brigade, Transport Group I, in April 2021, and normally performs logistic transport flights of the Argentine Air Force or specific operations of LADE (it is not part of the regular schedule in the routes of the latter, as do the Saab 340, the Fokker F28 or the Twin Otter). It is also often contracted by other private companies for different services. It has 141 seats in a single class and was delivered to its first operator, Ethiopian Airlines, in March 2004.
