Aerolíneas Argentinas low cost model | It will charge apa …

The management of Aerolineas Argentinas has taken a step forward in the conversion of the flag line into an additional company in the low cost segment. Faced with the constant loss of market for foreign companies offering cheap flights, the state company has announced a new tariff regime excluding essential services, such as customs clearance of luggage, change of date or choice of seat , by which the user You have to pay extra. A year ago, the Flag Group, composed of Aerolíneas y Austral, began to reduce the quality of service in order to deal with the unfair competition of low cost. The guild of pilots warns us that the next step, as was the case in other companies in the segment, is to copy the work flexibility model. According to the Flag Group, the new payment system for "services used" is already being implemented on flights to Punta Cana and Bogota and will be expanded in the coming days to domestic flights and domestic flights. then to other international destinations.

The new scheme is based on the segmentation that currently exists for the company's flights, although the ability to delete services is still maintained. Currently, the Promo segment, the lowest of the fare scale, allows the pbadenger to board the aircraft only with carry-on luggage, can not choose a seat and does not have a seat. not the possibility to change the date of the trip. Any of these services will have an additional cost. Free shipments of baggage, date changes, return of the ticket or change of seat are activated in the categories currently proposed. However, depending on the changes made to the model, depending on the company, there will be no space to access the Promo segment, which is the most similar to that offered by the low cost. In addition, for the rest of the services, the ability to choose the services you want to engage will still be valid. Only the same level of service as up to now will be maintained for Aerolíneas Plus Gold and Platinum members.

Last April, Mario Dell & Acqua, then president of Aerolineas, replaced by Luis Malvido, had anticipated the mutation of the company, which began to charge services separately, to compete with the low cost. "We have to copy the good that these companies have and thus optimize its resources," he said at a press conference given as part of the 2018 World Trade & Travel Council. Sources related to the previous direction recall that I had warned against the degradation of the service in general due to the proliferation of this economic model.

"The company will not cease to be a flag line or will not adopt all low cost terms, as this is not the company's goal or what the pbadengers ask, "then insisted Dell" Acqua. But that month, his administration decided to eliminate the executive clbad for its cabotage flights and regional flights, as part of its plan to reduce services to compete with low-cost airlines. The change in configuration of the aircraft has allowed it to increase the number of pbadengers by 500 and reduce ticket prices.

But the economic crisis and the fall in purchasing power have been at the heart of this economic model. As explained in the sector, the key to the low cost model is to have a occupancy rate close to 90%. According to the latest report of the Argentine Air Navigation Company (EANA), which depends on Transport, the occupation of Aerolíneas y Austral was 75% in international traffic and 77% in cabotage. In August, the government sought to soften the market, to gain "competitiveness" and to abolish the floor rate for cabotage air tickets. The market has not progressed because of the crisis. In fact, many low cost flights and reduced frequencies. But the elimination of reference prices has complicated the behavior of airlines. In this context, the current direction of the Flag group has advanced in its conversion to imitate the pattern of its competition.