#TBT: Aerolíneas Argentinas’ transpolar flight (Argentina – New Zealand – Australia) in 1989

Aerolíneas Argentinas made its first non-scheduled transpolar flight on July 7th, 1980 on a Boeing 747-200 aircraft. 14 months later, regular operations began, starting and ending at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, with a stopover in Rio Gallegos on the Oceania leg and non-stop on the segment to Argentina.

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With the introduction of the Airbus A340 in the late 1990s, the mandatory stop in Rio Gallegos was no longer necessary and both directions were non-stop.

See also: #TBT: Southern Winds flights in 2005.

The company stopped operating to New Zealand in 2012 and to Australia two years later, when the Airbus A340-200s were removed from the fleet in addition to the low profitability of the route. Since then, Aerolíneas Argentinas did not operate any regular flights in this market, withdrawing special services to China via Auckland in 2021 and 2022 in order to search vaccines against Coronavirus.

See also: #TBT: Ladeco flights to Canada and United States from South America in 1995.

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In 1989, Aerolíneas Argentinas had two flights a week between Buenos Aires, Auckland and Sydney on Boeing 747-200 jets.

Schedule between Buenos Aires, Rio Gallegos, Auckland and Sydney «Transpolar flight» – Aerolíneas Argentinas (1989)

• Buenos Aires (EZE) – Río Gallegos (RGL) – Auckland (AKL) – Sydney (SYD)

Tuesday

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Flight	From	To
AR 880	EZE: 02:30	RGL: 05:40
AR 880	RGL: 07:40	AKL: 09:00+1
AR 880	AKL: 10:50+1	SYD: 12:15+1

Thursday

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Flight	From	To
AR 884	EZE: 02:30	RGL: 05:40
AR 884	RGL: 07:40	AKL: 09:00+1
AR 884	AKL: 10:50+1	SYD: 12:15+1

• Sydney (SYD) – Auckland (AKL) – Buenos Aires (EZE)

Wednesday

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Flight	From	To
AR 881	SYD: 16:00	AKL: 20:45
AR 881	AKL: 22:05	EZE: 19:00

Friday

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Flight	From	To
AR 885	SYD: 14:05	AKL: 18:50
AR 885	AKL: 20:10	EZE: 17:05

Air New Zealand was the last company to operate scheduled flights between Argentina and Oceania in March 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Argentine capital is one of the company’s few international destinations that were not resumed, which is not planned to return in the short term.

Source

• Airline Timetable Images.

See also: #TBT: ARPA – Aerolíneas Paraguayas/TAM Mercosur flights in 1999.