Por José Ricardo Botelho, CEO and Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA).
After a break, we take off again with this initiative called Flying Over Latin America and the Caribbean to meet the leaders of the aviation industry in the region. I am pleased to present this edition with an interview to the CEO of one of our founding airlines: Aerolíneas Argentinas.
Pablo Ceriani is President of Aerolíneas Argentinas Group since 2019, he holds a degree in Economics from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and a master’s degree in Economics from Universidad de Buenos Aires. He has an extensive academic-teaching career and experience in different government agencies in economic advice.
I am very pleased to share this interview with you after Pablo and I met in person during the ALTA AGM & Airline Leaders Forum in Bogota last October, where we announced that the venue for our 18th ALTA AGM & Airline Leaders Forum in 2022 will be Buenos Aires, Argentina, the “Paris of America”, a city that has welcomed us on so many occasions.
Without further ado, I share with you the interview. Wishing you a good reading and until the next flight.
1. How is Argentine aviation moving towards an increasingly sustainable operation, and what is the role of Aerolíneas Argentinas?
The pandemic has had catastrophic effects on airline finances, especially in Latin American countries where governments have fewer resources to provide assistance.
However, thanks to the joint efforts of governments and the ability of the entire aviation industry to adapt to this unprecedented event, we have been able to create the conditions to build a bridge that will allow us to recover domestic and international traffic.
A fundamental factor to achieve recovery is, without a doubt, the vaccination of the population. With a high percentage of collective immunization, passengers feel safer and epidemiological figures improve. This allows the return of commercial aviation traffic due to both an increase in demand and a reduction in the mobility restrictions imposed by the health authorities.
2. How has Aerolíneas Argentinas reinvented itself in the current context? What is the key to keep flying?
Aerolíneas Argentinas has had to change the way it works in order to provide its services. On the one hand, we have adjusted the operation to new health protocols, so that the health authorities could approve the conditions under which we travel. On the other hand, we now also have to control the sanitary documentation to verify that passengers can fly.
From the commercial point of view, we have had to strongly develop the offer of charters, which have become more frequent due to the reduction in the regular flight schedule. In addition, we have had to use our passenger aircraft to transport cargo, both in the hold and in the cabin, and we had to work hard with the aeronautical authorities in order to be able to operate under this new scheme.
Another situation to take into account is the way of scheduling these flights, which is totally different from the regular schedule and demands an additional effort from the entire organization in order to have the resources in time and conditions to carry them out almost on demand or with very short notice. Furthermore, the operation under the health protocols is much more complex and slower, and reduces the reactive capacity of the organization, so the effort has been double.
3. What has been the main role of Aerolíneas Argentinas during the pandemic?
At the beginning of the pandemic, the main role was to repatriate passengers stranded due to flight limitations, which at first were highly restrictive and had a major impact because of the rapid spread of the virus. Later, we adapted the wide-body aircraft to be used as freighters to bring medical supplies from China. In this way, we contributed to supplying hospitals and protecting medical personnel, who were on the front line in the fight against the virus. Finally, Aerolíneas Argentinas was also active in bringing vaccines from Russia, China, the United States and Spain.
A total of 384 repatriation flights took place between March 13 and October 21, 2020, carrying 78,430 passengers to their home destinations. In that period, we also carried 27,462 people within Argentina, in a total of 160 special flights.
In terms of cargo, we carried out 42 operations to China, bringing a total of 1,068 tons of medical supplies. More importantly, as for vaccines, Aerolíneas Argentinas is the main carrier in the country, since we have carried out 52 flights, bringing a total of 39,286,375 doses.
4. Aerolíneas Argentinas is an ALTA founding member, how do you see the evolution of the association and its current role?
The role of the association in the promotion of the commercial aviation activity, which has been shown to be central and strategic, is fundamental. However, in recent times, these partnerships have been essential to share experiences, provide solutions or alternatives so that countries, aeronautical authorities and the entire industry can achieve a sustainable development of the activity in the midst of the worst financial crisis of the commercial aviation market.
The pandemic is not over, the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter, but there is still a lot of work to be done to return to pre-pandemic traffic levels, especially in international traffic. ALTA is and will continue to be of fundamental help for airlines and authorities in this joint effort that will undoubtedly lead us to a successful recovery.