At 9:02 pm local time in Tucson on Tuesday (1:02 am on Wednesday in Argentina), the Boeing 737-800 registration LV-KAH took off from the airport of Tucson, Arizona thus starting its delivery flight to join the Flybondi´s fleet.
The aircraft landed in Guayaquil at 5:39 am local time (7:39 am ARG) to carry out a refueling stopover, from where it departed at 6:48 am.
From the company it was reported that its arrival at the Ezeiza International Airport is expected around 3:00 pm.
The LV-KAH, which left the factory in June 2006, began its career with the British Excel Airways, as can be seen on AirFleets.net, then passing through Xtra Airways (now Avelo), XL Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, Sunwing Airlines and Smartwings, before passing into the hands of the lessor AerCap in July 2020, through which it arrived at Flybondi. It has capacity for 189 passengers in a single class.
The arrival of this new aircraft is a new step in Flybondi’s «rebuilding» process after the pandemic, prior to which it had five Boeing 737-800s in its fleet, three of which were gradually returned during 2020 before the paralysis of the domestic market in Argentina for more than six months.
Initially, the ultra low-cost would use the LV-KAH to reinforce capacity on the current routes, not to add new ones, but sources close to the company indicated that it will depend on the dynamism of the market.
Currently Flybondi flies from Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires to Bariloche, Córdoba, Corrientes, Jujuy, Mendoza, Neuquén, Posadas, Puerto Iguazú, Salta, Santiago del Estero, Trelew and Tucumán. It also links Córdoba with Bariloche.