This month, a new flight connection from Paraguay arrives directly to the airport of Jujuy, the gateway to the colourful canyon of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, and on to the Atacama in Chile, and Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni and Tarija wine region.
Paranair is offering twice weekly flights from Asuncion on Thursdays & Sundays, and in February will be adding direct flights to Salta (also twice a week).
The flights to Jujuy and Salta only take an hour and 40 minutes, quicker than flights from Buenos Aires. Flights bookable online are currently around US$180 return.
They also allow 23 kilos of luggage, as it’s an international flight, compared to 15 kilos on a typical Buenos Aires to Salta or Jujuy leg.
When planning your holiday in Argentina, it’s certainly worth looking around for flight bargains.
Think about flying not just to Buenos Aires, but to Santiago de Chile, Montevideo in Uruguay or (now) Asuncion.
Take a look at Skyscanner for flights to South America: from London for mid-season in January, Montevideo works out best (US$1,168 return), followed by Santiago de Chile (US$1,213), Asuncion (US$1,226) and Buenos Aires (US$1,271).
(I’ve not gone for the absolute cheapest options, but the best combination of time and price.)
From Santiago you can get a flight or bus to Mendoza, and you can hop on the ferry to Buenos Aires if arriving in Montevideo.
Or spend a bit of time in Uruguay exploring the coastline, including the delightful city of Colonia de Sacramento.
Don’t forget about flights to Sao Paolo in Brazil if you’re also planning a trip to Iguazu falls: from Foz, on the Brazilian side of the waterfalls, it’s easy to take a cab across the border, and then fly direct from Iguazu to Salta.
From New York, for the same period in January, Santiago de Chile is US$734 return, Sao Paolo US$844 and Montevideo US$867 (though not direct), while Buenos Aires tops the prices at US$997.
Beyond the expensive flights, to add to our woes here, for the last couple of months, we’ve been suffering a wave of strike action, largely because of President Milei’s plans to privatise Aerolineas Argentinas.
But last week, management reached an agreement with unions on a 16% pay rise for pilots, crew and ground staff, backdated to June, in return for more efficient working practices.
Since Friday 13th September, there have been 13 strikes in total, prompting the cancellation of thousands of flights, the loss of US$20 million in income for AA, not to mention tens of thousands of stranded and highly annoyed passengers.
The strike action prompted the expulsion, a month ago, of pilots’ union leader Pablo Biro from the board of directors of the airline.
As you’ll know from an earlier blog, subsidising Aerolineas costs eye-watering amounts of money we don’t have.
But it’s a no brainer that to privatise a business, you need people who want to invest in it, or buy it outright: and so far there seems little interest.
