This is a genuinely exciting development for those traveling between the United States and Buenos Aires…
In this post:
Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) expanded for long haul service
Up until now, all long haul flights to Buenos Aires have operated to Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), which is a ways outside the city, especially given how bad traffic can be in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires has a second airport, Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), which is considered to be the “downtown” airport. Historically the airport has only handled regional flights, including flights within Argentina, as well as flights to nearby countries.
One of the main reasons that the airport has historically only served regional flights is due to the runway length. The airport’s runway was only 2,100 meters (~6,890 feet), not long enough to handle a fully loaded long haul aircraft.
Fortunately in the past few years, the airport has undergone a runway expansion. The runway has been extended by 500 meters (~1,640 feet), to 2,600 meters (~8,530 feet). Furthermore, the runway’s width has also been extended by 20 meters (~66 feet).
This extension makes it possible for some fully loaded wide body aircraft to operate from here. While you shouldn’t expect any Boeing 747s flying from the airport anytime soon, the airport can now handle the Airbus A330. That’s leading to an exciting development…
Aerolineas Argentinas adds flights to Miami & New York
With the runway at Buenos Aires’ “downtown” airport having been extended, we’re seeing some new service to the airport. As of August 2023, Aerolineas Argentinas will be transferring some of its flights to the United States from EZE to AEP. Specifically:
- Aerolineas Argentinas will fly 3-4x weekly from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to Miami (MIA)
- Aerolineas Argentinas will fly 3x weekly from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to New York (JFK)
These flights will be operated by Airbus A330-200 aircraft, featuring 272 seats, including 24 business class seats and 248 economy class seats.
Buenos Aires Aeroparque has limited slots, so I’m curious to see if US airlines try to operate service from the airport as well. Regulatory approval aside (and I’m sure that could be arranged through negotiations for reciprocity), the biggest challenge will be getting an aircraft capable of taking off from the airport without having to compromise on payload.
Delta also flies A330-200s, so the airline could presumably also operate these flights in terms of takeoff performance.
Bottom line
Buenos Aires’ downtown airport, Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), has just undergone a runway expansion. The runway is now long enough for select wide body aircraft to depart without major payload restrictions. As a result, Aerolineas Argentinas will be launching some flights from the airport to both Miami and New York.
This is a change that I’m sure many will appreciate. Not only is the airport much closer to the city of Buenos Aires, but there’s also plenty of opportunity to connect from the airport.
What do you make of Buenos Aires’ Aeroparque now serving long haul flights?
it might end up like the narita -haneda issue. if only argentine airlines are allowed the usa-dot will boycott them until usa airlines are given the same privilege (unfair competition law)
I flew Aerolineas Argentinas business class on their A330 from Miami to Buenos Aires and man, that was the worst business class experience I’ve had. The food was inedible and the entertainment was super limited. The seats also weren’t lie flat. It was nice to fly direct though from Miami.
It looks like they are ending JFK-EZE flights at around the same time. I suppose they are not ending MIA-EZE flights either because it is such a high-demand route. I feel like they should still keep flights from EZE to both places because it seems like EZE offers more opportunities for connections. For those who are more familiar with AEP, where does it generally fall on the spectrum of all city-center airports in the world?...
It looks like they are ending JFK-EZE flights at around the same time. I suppose they are not ending MIA-EZE flights either because it is such a high-demand route. I feel like they should still keep flights from EZE to both places because it seems like EZE offers more opportunities for connections. For those who are more familiar with AEP, where does it generally fall on the spectrum of all city-center airports in the world? Is it more of a London City or a Tokyo Haneda kind of situation?
Though it’s great for connections, I worry about congestion in the terminal. Lines are already prohibitively long (60 min, plus) just to check in for domestic flights, and pax are lined up through hallways.
Great news for those connecting to other points in Argentina, or stopping in the city. It's a small airport and nothing fancy, but 15 minutes into the heart of the city can't be beat.
The 767-300ER with 60k engines and the 787-8 could probably both make it to Miami. The chances of making JFK without payload restrictions and AR’s configuration is low
I'd be curious to know if the overall airport experience is better at AEP or EZE. Lounges / modern terminals / etc.
Way worst in that aspect… there is only one lounge located before security and very limited access for American Express cards only… it’s not clear yet if AR business class passengers will get acces, since all domestic and regional flights from AR don’t have a business class, just premium economy and they don’t get access, nor do Skyteam elite plus customers
A minor issue compared to the convenience on several fronts
Guessing the state airline gets an advantage here on keeping the other airlines out
EZE would be the winner here. It has been expanded and modernized in recent years, has more lounges, and really isn't that inconvenient, just a bit further out. AEP went through a significant overhaul several years ago, but it is still small and congested. The AR routes to JFK and MIA operating from AEP have nothing to do with passenger experience and a lot to do with competitiveness. This is the Argentine government's way of...
EZE would be the winner here. It has been expanded and modernized in recent years, has more lounges, and really isn't that inconvenient, just a bit further out. AEP went through a significant overhaul several years ago, but it is still small and congested. The AR routes to JFK and MIA operating from AEP have nothing to do with passenger experience and a lot to do with competitiveness. This is the Argentine government's way of pushing back on AA and the US carriers, who dominate the US-Argentina air market.
Are you saying that AR can just fly into AEP while AA, UA, & DL must use EZE? That's like BA using LHR while Delta, Northwes, USairways & Continental must all use Gatwick.
Um…are you flying to London in 1999? Northwest, USairways and Continental haven’t existed for some years now…
I think the comment is specifically referencing the decades that Bermuda II limited the carriers allowed to operate into LHR, giving BA (and PA) a major advantage.
“Um…are you flying to London in 1999?”
God, I wish I was
This is a huge deal.
This is GREAT news!
This is definitely great news, in particular for those connecting from other regional cities. AR has mostly eliminated regional services to EZE, so connecting involves an airport change.
Also, the opening of the new departure terminal at EZE has made things clearly worse. The centralized security and passport control is clearly unable to cope with the traffic volume.
Exit passport control at EZE is a clown show.
It can possibly be worse at AEP, can it?
"especially given how bad traffic can be in Buenos Aires"
Off topic but compared to São Paulo, Buenos Aires traffic is a paradise.
From GRU to the city center it's less than 50km and most times it takes me hours to go downtown. I believe my record is 4+h. Depending on my departure hour I even go to GRU in the very early morning to avoid traffic, even during night it never took me less than 1h. But still, I prefer to spend 4h in the lounge rather than 2h in traffic.
I made it to GRU one evening in under an hour. Mind you, the cab driver drove like Senna, on the road named after him, and I had to keep shouting at him to slow down.
Yeah, you have some cab guys like that overthere. Sometimes they help us out. ;-)
Doesn't their press release say that the Miami flight has four outbounds and three returns weekly? How does that work?
Assuming that the fourth flight comes back to EZE, how does that plane end up getting between airports?
Most straightforward way would be to have an EZE-MIA flight that is the other way around (3 outbound, 4 returns) so that planes are basically rotating between the two airports.
I believe ANA did something similar with HND/NRT flights to certain US cities during the pandemic.
Correct. One plane is routed AEP-MIA-EZE. The rest all do AEP-MIA-AEP or EZE-MIA-EZE.
As a practical matter, it's also super helpful for connections - in the status quo, if you're transferring between an international and domestic flight, you almost always need to change airports, and the city of BA is between them.