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Flybondi's $1.7 Billion Bet To Rewrite Argentina's Airline Game
(MENAFN- The Rio Times) Key Points
Flybondi will invest about $1.7 billion in new jets, aiming to expand its fleet by roughly 230%.
The privately financed plan promises more routes, lower fares and tighter links between Argentina, Brazil and neighbouring markets.
The move is a live test of whether Argentina will welcome long-term private investment instead of protecting politicised state airlines.
Argentina's skies have long been dominated by a state airline kept afloat with public money and political protection. Private carriers have faced turbulent rules and a field that rarely felt level.
Flybondi, the country's first low-cost airline, is now putting serious capital on the table to prove that a lean, privately funded model can still work. The company plans to invest about $1.7 billion in brand-new aircraft, backed mainly by U.S. fund COC Global Enterprise.
It has ordered up to 35 jets: 15 Airbus A220-300s, with options for five more, and 10 Boeing 737 MAX 10s with options for another five.
The A220s, with around 160 seats, are due between 2027 and 2029. The larger MAX 10s, with up to 240 seats, are scheduled from 2027 to 2030. If all are delivered, Flybondi's fleet would grow by roughly 230%.
Today the airline flies about 15 aircraft on 32 routes, 22 domestic and 10 international to Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. Since 2018 it has carried around 17 million passengers. Low fares have opened air travel to many people who previously relied on long-distance buses or simply did not travel.
Flybondi bets big as Argentina tests real airline competition
The new jets would make Flybondi the first operator of the Airbus A220-300 in Latin America and support expansion towards Paraguay, Colombia, the Caribbean and northern Brazil.
For the 2025/26 summer season, the airline is planning close to 60 weekly flights between Argentina and Brazil, tightening business and tourism flows with the region's largest economy.
All this happens while the state-owned flag carrier seeks 18 more planes and rival low-cost JetSMART has already overtaken Flybondi as the second-largest domestic airline.
Behind the fleet numbers sits a simple question: will Argentina allow competition, private risk and passengers' wallets to shape the market, or keep using politics and subsidies to decide who survives?
The bet is risky – inflation, a weak currency, shifting rules and Boeing's still-uncertified MAX 10 all hang over the plan.
But if regulators hold a steady line and ideology steps back, Flybondi's expansion could show that the country can still attract large, long-term private investment – and that customers, not politicians, should decide which airlines thrive.
Flybondi will invest about $1.7 billion in new jets, aiming to expand its fleet by roughly 230%.
The privately financed plan promises more routes, lower fares and tighter links between Argentina, Brazil and neighbouring markets.
The move is a live test of whether Argentina will welcome long-term private investment instead of protecting politicised state airlines.
Argentina's skies have long been dominated by a state airline kept afloat with public money and political protection. Private carriers have faced turbulent rules and a field that rarely felt level.
Flybondi, the country's first low-cost airline, is now putting serious capital on the table to prove that a lean, privately funded model can still work. The company plans to invest about $1.7 billion in brand-new aircraft, backed mainly by U.S. fund COC Global Enterprise.
It has ordered up to 35 jets: 15 Airbus A220-300s, with options for five more, and 10 Boeing 737 MAX 10s with options for another five.
The A220s, with around 160 seats, are due between 2027 and 2029. The larger MAX 10s, with up to 240 seats, are scheduled from 2027 to 2030. If all are delivered, Flybondi's fleet would grow by roughly 230%.
Today the airline flies about 15 aircraft on 32 routes, 22 domestic and 10 international to Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. Since 2018 it has carried around 17 million passengers. Low fares have opened air travel to many people who previously relied on long-distance buses or simply did not travel.
Flybondi bets big as Argentina tests real airline competition
The new jets would make Flybondi the first operator of the Airbus A220-300 in Latin America and support expansion towards Paraguay, Colombia, the Caribbean and northern Brazil.
For the 2025/26 summer season, the airline is planning close to 60 weekly flights between Argentina and Brazil, tightening business and tourism flows with the region's largest economy.
All this happens while the state-owned flag carrier seeks 18 more planes and rival low-cost JetSMART has already overtaken Flybondi as the second-largest domestic airline.
Behind the fleet numbers sits a simple question: will Argentina allow competition, private risk and passengers' wallets to shape the market, or keep using politics and subsidies to decide who survives?
The bet is risky – inflation, a weak currency, shifting rules and Boeing's still-uncertified MAX 10 all hang over the plan.
But if regulators hold a steady line and ideology steps back, Flybondi's expansion could show that the country can still attract large, long-term private investment – and that customers, not politicians, should decide which airlines thrive.
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