Internationalization of Jorge Newbery Airport

On February 17, Resolution No. 40/2020 was issued by the Argentine Civil Aviation Administration (the “ANAC”, after its acronym in Spanish), establishing the internationalization of Jorge Newbery Airport in the city of Buenos Aires in relation to Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia and Peru as of May 11, 2020. On May 8, 2020, the ANAC decided to defer internationalization until December 1, 2020.

According to the recitals of the measure ordering the postponement, the National Airport System Regulatory Agency (ORSNA) reported that there are still several interventions in the passenger terminal of the Airport to be carried out before it can be adapted to international flight operations, so it is necessary to defer the start of these interventions. Moreover, there are pending infrastructure works to enable them to start new operations at the airport and such works will demand an estimated time of 120 days.

The provision applies only to international flights without prior, intermediate and/or subsequent stopovers in countries other than the airline’s country of origin and only to those aircraft with less than 200 seats.

The Resolution expressively states that all flights starting and ending at Jorge Newbery Airport must end and start, respectively, in any bordering country or in Peru.

Thus, the provision modifies Resolution No. 183 approved in April 2018 and adds Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia and Peru to the list of countries authorized to operate as origin and destination from the airport. Furthermore, by repealing the ANAC’s Resolution No. 865 approved last December, the former Article 4 of Resolution No. 183 will come back into effect, establishing the prohibition of adding new bases of operations at the airport, moorings or overnight stays of aircraft whose operators do not have their base of operations at the airport.

Furthermore, any rule that does not comply with this decision of the ANAC is repealed by the Resolution. Specifically, the provision voids the articles of Resolution No. 183 which refer to the prohibition of adding international flights to and from Jorge Newbery Airport, and the obligation to transfer flights to Ezeiza International Airport, with the exception of those with origin or destination in Uruguay.

Finally, the Resolution imposes on each airline the obligation to have new approvals from the ANAC before offering the services enabled by the provision.