Argentine Airlines keen to taking the lead in Latin American market

Argentine Airlines (AA), a company that managed to get off the financial hook and went on to become Argentina’s leading carrier, will now set out to the conquest of Latin American skies.

AA president Antonio Mata said in a news conference that “our whim is to put Argentine Airlines on top of the country’s air carriers and from now on we’ll work harder to make it the number-one Latin American company of its kind.”

In pursuit of this goal, AA has just formed four different airlines in Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile, all of them waiting for the official green light to start flying as soon as next year.

The four carriers –with an initial investment of $30 million- will be hubbed in emerging markets with no local tough competitors in sight and will fly in shared code with Argentine Airlines.

Mr. Mata trumpeted the creation of Regional Airlines, a service intended to connect the Argentine cities of Salta, Bariloche and Cordoba with one another using aircraft of less than 100 seats each.

The new service is scheduled to go into operation in March next year with a $10 million investment.

Mr. Mata added in the press conference that “AA streamlined itself and stopped being behind the competitive eight ball” on Oct.17, 2001 when it let go of the grip of the Spanish Association of Industrial Stocks and jumped into the hands of Argentine company Air Plus and the Spain-based Marsans Group.

AA reaped $13 million last year and has plans for netting a figure somewhere between $35 and $40 million this time up.

From November on, AA will increase its cargo capabilities by 30 percent while the international branch will soar to 35 percent. The plan foresees the addition of more weekly flights to Madrid (twelve in all), a daily flight to Miami, and the grand opening of the Mexican route.