In Three Years, Buenos Aires Gains Almost a Million Extra Seats on International Flights

The city is more accessible than ever, with new international air connections. International visitor numbers have been growing for almost two years. This Wednesday, American Airlines added a new flight from Los Angeles, expected to bring 20,500 more visitors each year.

In December 2015 a new international route to Buenos Aires was inaugurated by Air New Zealand. It was the first new route to the city for many years, and the start of a revolution in connectivity for the city that, in the three years since, has added more than 900,000 seats a year with Buenos Aires as the destination.

This Wednesday, American Airlines launched a new flight from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires' Ezeiza Airport. The new route offers a frequency of three flights a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) with a duration of 12 hours. The 855 seats a week equate to a potential 20,500 more visitors per year.

Los Angeles is an important outbound tourism market in itself and also a connection to Asian markets. This way, the City of Buenos Aires expects to continue to see growth in visitor numbers from markets further afield. In the first nine months of 2018, arrivals from the US and Canada increased 4.7%, while European arrivals, mainly from Spain and the UK, were up 5.5% and arrivals from the Rest of the World - mainly Australia and China climbed (19.4%).

Gonzalo Robredo, president of the Buenos Aires City Tourist Board, said: “Every tourist creates a multiplier effectm, generating income for the sectors of accommodation, transport, gastronomy and other services. We have the potential to grow as a destination, and this is why we promote Buenos Aires through the world, raising awareness of our appeal."

Through 2018, Buenos Aires gained five new flights a week from Barcelona (Level), three from Madrid (Iberia), four from London (Norwegian), three from Toronto (Air Canada), five from Addis Ababa (Ethiopian Airlines), one from Amsterdam (KLM) and two from Zúrich (Edelweiss Air / Lufthansa), among other new routes.