Aero Argentinas

Aerolíneas Argentinas is the largest airline in Argentina and serves as Argentina’s flag carrier. The airline, based in the city of Buenos Aires, operates from hubs at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery for domestic as well as regional flights and Ministro Pistarini International Airport for the international services. Aerolíneas Argentinas plans to become part of the SkyTeam in 2012.

The History of Aerolineas Argentina

Aerolíneas Argentina history goes as farback to 1929, when carrier Aeroposta Argentina started operations. The Argentine government, recognizing Argentina’s vast geographic size and the need for fast transportation between the countryside and the larger cities, established an airline company to carry passengers as well as mail. The first two destinations served were Mendoza and Posadas.

In 1946, the government of Argentina imposed some organization on the country’s airlines forming a system of mixed-stock companies. Aside from Aeroposta, three new joint stock companies were created out of the airlines that had sprung up in the 1930s. ALFA (Aviación del Litoral Fluvial Argentino) was formed by merging two private airlines, FAMA (Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina), which set the precedent for the nation’s international air service, operating Avro Yorks on services to Europe, and ZONDA (Zonas Oeste y Norte de Aerolíneas Argentinas) took over PANAGRA’s domestic trade network in the northwest.

In May 1949, all these carriers merged under the name Aerolíneas Argentinas. Operations started on 7 December 1950. At this time, Argentina did not have suitable airport facilities, so the government of Juan Perón built Ministro Pistarini airport; General Juan Pistarini, after whom the facilities are named, designed and directed its construction. Key to the airline’s growth were Alfonso Aliaga García, and Dirk Wessel Van Layden, who had been a pilot with French carrier Aéropostale (not to be confused with Aeroposta) and was influential in raising flying standards.

The DC-3 proved to be an invaluable asset for Aerolíneas Argentinas, as for many other airlines worldwide. It enabled them to fly to domestic destinations that had, until then, been unreachable – and to keep flying FAMA’s international routes. Soon afterwards, Douglas DC-4s joined the fleet and services were inaugurated to Santiago de Chile, Lima, Santa Cruz, and São Paulo.

The 1950s saw the arrival of the DC-6, allowing Aerolíneas Argentinas to fly at night for the first time. Thanks to this plane, the name of Aerolíneas Argentinas was seen at terminals in New York’s Idlewild airport, as well as Havana, Lisbon, London Heathrow, Dakar, and Rio de Janeiro. By the end of that decade, the Comet IV jet had begun commercial jet services worldwide, and Aerolíneas once again wanted to set the pace among South America’s air companies. Airline President Juan José Güiraldes persuaded Argentina’s President Arturo Frondizi to buy six of the new planes, on the understanding that Aerolíneas would pay for the planes later. And so, on 2 March 1959, ‘Tres Marías’, which became the first jet airplane flown by Aerolíneas, landed at Ministro Pistarini International Airport.

With these jets, Aerolíneas Argentinas kept a steady growth during the 1960s, opening routes to London, Paris, Rome, and Madrid. The 1970s saw the arrival of the Boeing 727s, 737s and 747s, a stronger marketing strategy and the introduction of new routes to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Zurich. Aerolíneas Argentinas was featured on many Jorge Porcel movies at that time, and the began licensing toy companies to produce models of their aircraft, a practice it maintains today.

During and for some time after the 1982 Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), Aerolíneas Argentinas was banned from flying through British airspace. There used to be a flight from London Gatwick to Argentina’s capital, however passengers for Argentina had to change planes at Madrid Barajas because of the ban.

2009 onwards

On 16 November 2009, the last Boeing 737-200 flight operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas took place on a flight from Buenos Aires-Catamarca-La Rioja-Buenos Aires.