More and better for Bahia Blanca airport

Looking ahead 10 years to 2028 by when annual passenger traffic is estimated to double to reach 900,000, Bahía Blanca City Hall has submitted to ORSNA aviation regulatory agency a plan to both improve and expand the local airport. The proposals, to be financed by Aeropuertos Bahía Blanca which has a 25-year concession (2008-33), were presented to the municipal authorities two months ago.

The works will include shifting the catering area (currently thought to complicate passenger circulation) to completely new premises with a good view, as well as constructing new sanitary facilities and expanding the check-in zone, which will be relocated, redecorated and refurnished to improve the aesthetics. There will be a ramp for the disabled between floors.

Today Bahía Blanca has grown from a solitary run to Aeroparque in 2008 to 18 daily flights to nine destinations, adding Ezeiza, Mar del Plata, Trelew, Comodoro Rivadavia, Ushuaia, Neuquén, Bariloche (as from July) and, last but not least, Córdoba.

As from May 31 Flybondi, the low cost pioneer based in El Palomar, will start covering the route to Buenos Aires.

Neuquén-based LASA will commence flights in August, linking locals to Puerto Montt in Chile via a Bariloche stopover.

Later this year yet another low cost airline Polar Líneas Aéreas could start operating from La Plata, offering Bahía Blanca connections with various Patagonian destinations and Mar del Plata.

In the last five years the number of passengers using Bahá Blanca airport has risen 55.95% from 283,927 in 2013 to 442,185 in 2017. Curiously enough, the total of arrivals and departures in that period has grown much less, from 6,408 to 7,271 or 13.47%.

Finally, in the last 10 years City Hall has failed to lease the airport parking-lot. Back in 2008 a monthly fee of 16,000 pesos was contemplated, which would meet half the monthly rent charged by the Argentine Navy for use of the airport site. Today that rent is 121,000 pesos, which continues to be paid by City Hall.         

Source: La Nueva Provincia