In one year Andes has advanced from a 3% share of the local aviation market to 7% which they are hoping to double by the end of 2018 – in third place behind Aerolíneas Argentinas (72%) and Latam (17%). In March it made two humanitarian charter flights to the Malvinas (as part of an initiative organised and financed by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000) enabling relatives of the 1982 war dead to visit their recently identified graves.

Founded by the Ziadi family in Salta in 2005, Andes claims to have the lowest prices above the low cost category with charter flights as previously the airline’s strongest point. But boosted by the aviation revolution underway in Argentina since 2016, they will be flying 14 routes by the end of the year, selling 800,000 tickets in 2017 (four times the previous year).

"Andes is a family company financed by private Argentine capital with no debts, loans or subsidies", defines general manager Horacio Preneste in an interview with Infobae, attributing the company’s rapid growth to this solvency. The airline employs 450 staff (Preneste describes his relationship with the unions as “good”) with a fleet of nine aircraft.

Next year it is planning to add such South American capitals as Montevideo, Asunción, Santiago and Lima to its destinations – always subject to the company’s basic rule that if a route does not make money, it will be discontinued. Preneste is optimistic as to future expansión since his experience is that air traffic grows at three times the overall economic growth rate.