Vultures fly over airlines | What is behind …

The landing of the airline "ultra low cost" Chilean Jetsmart kicked off a commercial war with the "first low cost Argentina", Flybondi, offering both pbades at one weight per section. The two companies, in addition to crossing cheap slogans, share the facilities of the El Palomar airport terminal and the commercial strategy of giving an opportunity to gain importance in the cabotage market, mimicking the campaigns run by this company. more mature markets, such as the European market. Industry experts and workers' representatives warn of the risk that air transport will become another speculative vehicle for large financial groups, ultimately affecting the country's connectivity. "It's a fundraiser – the funds behind the airlines – and lenders to go into the revenue recovery phase, which happens when they succeed in replacing traditional businesses," he told Gustave PáginaI12, aviation researcher and former chief of Orsna.

In a market that is starting to show signs of stagnation and retrenchment due to the loss of wage-buying power, the low cost has triggered a "trade war" initiated by the networks and gone now to price promotion. The company scheme is always the same. A case often cited is that of the Irish airline Ryanair, which launched a campaign to offer flights to those who wore banners against Iberia, the traditional Spanish firm that sought to seize the market. The promotions have become as absurd as pbadages to "-10 euros". "They paid you 10 euros to fly with them," recalls Lipovich. "The problem is that when they displace competition and dominate a market, they demand extortionate subsidies, leaving the place without connectivity and raising prices above what they were before they arrived," he said. declared one of the leaders of the guild of pilots.

The marketing aggression was triggered by a media crusade between two of the three low-cost companies currently operating in the country. The third is Norwegian. After experiencing the landing of Jetsmart in El Palomar, Flybondi's Twitter account has published: "Welcome to our house, cachái?". That's how the Chicanas started. On last week's Saturday, Flybondi launched a package of bills at a weight per leg plus fees, which were in practice 211 pesos. According to low cost comments on this newspaper, this Saturday alone, they "sold" 5,000 tickets and the promotion was extended until the middle of last week. The promotion included flights to domestic destinations in June, August and September, after which it will remain at 399 to 899 pesos per installment. The most popular destinations were Bariloche, Mendoza, Salta, Puerto Iguazú and Jujuy.

Jetsmart then heated up the fight and released a stock of 5,000 tickets for a final weight per leg. "We Pay the Fees," is the slogan of the Chilean brand campaign, backed by Indigo Partners LLC, a private investment fund focused on airline transportation based in Phoenix, Arizona. "The demand for very cheap tickets reached a new record last Wednesday, when it completed in 24 hours the sale of 54,734 tickets for journeys between different points of the country, which will start flying from April, there are still nearly 3,000 pbadages of an available weight at different dates ", informed by the low cost. Once tickets are sold to a peso, the promotion of flights starting from 299 pesos (taxes included) will be maintained.

"What we offer is what is allowed by law and what does not generate a loss," they responded to Flybondi's diary, in an effort to collect fees. However, with or without the tax rate included in the price, this is a promotional package that does not cover operating costs. "In the plane, there is a combination of tickets, ranging from those who paid the peso to what they bought the day before and at full fare", they explained to Flybondi, without however specifying the number of tickets sold in pesos. "It is the loss of a time to settle in the market," replied Lipovich.

Aerolineas Argentinas, since the beginning of the month, began selling tickets excluding traditional services to mitigate the erosion caused by low-cost competition. Aerolíneas y Austral's fare schedule excludes essential services, such as baggage clearance, date change or seat selection, for which the user must pay a surcharge. "Traditional and low-cost airlines have similar strategies for setting fares, which obviously aims to increase more, not for the benefit of the pbadenger, but to further impose this differentiation," said L & # 39, former president of the flag line, Mariano Recalde, in Página12. When this type of price war begins, those who survive are those who have the financial means to do so. "This situation, we are already living with LAPA, which led to the general bankruptcy of all companies in the sector.The only one that survived in 2001 was Aerolíneas, which was then sold to Marsans," concluded Lipovich.