Flybondi airline will sue the province of Buenos Aires for having fined it

Low-cost airline Flybondi will file a lawsuit against the province of Buenos Aires with the aim of having the $300 million fine imposed by the Provincial Directorate for the Defense of Consumers and Users declared null and void. The company maintains that the fine is " illegitimate " and that the process was " arbitrary ."

The company claims that there are "defects in the resolution that imposed the sanction and the entire procedure arbitrarily conducted by the Provincial Directorate for the Defense of Consumer and User Rights of the Province of Buenos Aires for alleged non-compliance with certain articles of Law 24,240 on Consumer Protection."

The statement also stated: “In order to initiate the lawsuit, the airline was forced to pay the fine , which is incompatible with the principle of innocence, as it forces the alleged offender to comply with the sanction before it has been confirmed by a final judgment. Flybondi maintains that requiring the payment of an unusual and disproportionate fine affects constitutional guarantees that ensure a defense in court.”

As part of its claim of "illegitimacy" , Flybondi requested that it be absolved of the violations for which it was sanctioned and claims that:

- The Provincial Directorate has no jurisdiction over aeronautical matters, as has been indicated by rulings by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and the Judicial Branch of Buenos Aires.

- Current legislation was ignored, applying standards that do not correspond to the sector.

- Airline supervision falls to ANAC, which has already intervened in this situation.

The conflict began at the end of January, when the Buenos Aires government, headed by Axel Kicillof, fined Flybondi for 2,400 passenger complaints due to cancellations, rescheduling and difficulties in communicating with the company. In addition, the airline was accused of not correctly publishing the contracting conditions on its website , violating the National Consumer Protection Law.

The Minister of Production of Buenos Aires, Augusto Costa , justified the sanction by stating that Flybondi " incurred and continues to incur in repeated infractions , such as the suspensions or rescheduling of its flights , the difficulty or impossibility of communicating with the airline to obtain answers and the impossibility of opting for rescheduling or for refunds of tickets or expenses generated due to cancellations (such as transportation costs to the airport, loss of hotels, excursions and tourist packages, among others)".

Flybondi / Cancelled flights

In addition to the conflict with the province of Buenos Aires, the airline had already been warned in December by the National Transportation Secretariat, which demanded a corrective plan to drastically reduce daily cancellations.