Aviation History
Argentine aviation traces back to pioneer Jorge Newbery, who helped found the Aero Club Argentino in 1908 and Latin America's first military aviation school in 1912, before dying in 1914 attempting the first aerial crossing of the Andes. In the 1920s, Aeropostale's Patagonian mail routes (flown for a time by French writer-aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) extended aviation into the country's south. The state flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas was formed in 1950 from the merger of four earlier airlines and went on to fly early jets, including the de Havilland Comet. Ownership of Aerolíneas Argentinas has shifted repeatedly between state and private control, most recently renationalized in 2008 after a period of private ownership and financial collapse. Since the mid-2010s, regulatory liberalization has allowed low-cost carriers to enter the domestic market for the first time.
The Aero Club Argentino was founded in 1908, becoming a center for early Argentine aviation activity led by figures such as Jorge Newbery.
Argentina established a Military Aviation School in 1912, considered the first of its kind in Latin America.
Aerolíneas Argentinas was created from the merger of four existing Argentine carriers, becoming the country's state flag carrier.
Aerolíneas Argentinas took delivery of de Havilland Comet jets in 1959, among the first airlines outside Europe to operate jet aircraft, and used them to launch service to New York.
Aerolíneas Argentinas operated what is described as the first transantarctic commercial flight using a Boeing 747 in 1980.
The Argentine government sold a majority stake in Aerolíneas Argentinas to an Iberia-led consortium in 1990, beginning a period of private ownership.
Following financial collapse under private ownership, the Argentine state reacquired control of Aerolíneas Argentinas in 2008.
Regulatory changes in the late 2010s allowed low-cost carriers such as Flybondi and JetSmart to begin domestic operations in Argentina for the first time.
Aerolíneas Argentinas · Austral Líneas Aéreas · Flybondi · JetSmart Argentina · LATAM Argentina
General aviation-history sources (Wikipedia, airline company histories); Aerolíneas Argentinas' state ownership, subsidy levels, and the low-cost carrier market are politically sensitive and subject to change with government policy, so figures should be treated as approximate and time-sensitive.