Flybondi cancels flights due to currency crisis in Argentina – 06/07/2023 – Market

More than 5,500 Flybondi passengers will have their flight postponed from this Wednesday (7) because of exchange restrictions by the Argentine government. According to the airline, the postponements will be at least three days.

In a statement to its passengers, to which the Associated Press agency had access, Flybondi said that it is unable to meet the rents and payment for specialized services that it has to hire abroad.

The problem lies in the lack of access to the dollar to settle debts with Air Castle, the company that leases the aircraft. The Argentine government places restrictions on the US currency to preserve low central bank reserves and defend the peso, the local currency.

“There are currently restrictive official measures for companies that need access to foreign currency to make payments abroad. At Flybondi, we hire several specialized services abroad and are paid in dollars. To do so, we must request authorization periodically, but in the last two months we have not received the approvals,” says the company’s statement.

“Thus, we have been accumulating breaches in the contracts and the most critical one is the payment of the lease of the planes.”

22 flights are canceled and another ten have been rescheduled. Destinations were not announced. The trips would be made by the two Boeing 737s delivered for lease by Air Castle to Flybondi.

Operating in Argentina for five years, the low-cost airline says it hopes that “the approval process has the agility and speed that the airline industry needs”. The company does not rule out further cancellations and delays if the situation does not return to normal.

Flybondi also operates three routes to Brazil, with 17 weekly flights from Buenos Aires (EZE) to Florianópolis (FLN), São Paulo (GRU) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG).