Argentina has authorized Chilean-registered JetSMART Airlines S.p.A. to operate scheduled domestic and international passenger and cargo services with traffic rights extending from the third to the ninth freedom of the air. The approval allows the airline to operate standalone domestic routes within Argentina, potentially using Chile-based aircraft, although no new domestic service has yet been scheduled.
The authorization was granted through Disposition 27/2026 of Argentina’s Subsecretaría de Transporte Aéreo, signed on 7 October and published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday. Its broad route framework covers points before Argentina, intermediate points, destinations within the country and points beyond, rather than specifying individual domestic routes.
The ninth-freedom right permits JetSMART Chile to operate a route such as Buenos Aires–Córdoba without the flight starting or ending in Chile. Eighth-freedom rights also allow domestic carriage within Argentina as part of an international service, while the remaining rights cover international operations involving Argentina and third countries.
The authorization applies to JetSMART Airlines S.p.A., the group’s Chilean parent, and not to JetSMART Airlines S.A., its Argentine subsidiary, which already operates domestic services under a separate local authorization. JetSMART must still select routes, publish schedules and meet Argentina’s ANAC technical and operational requirements.
Argentina’s government also expects the authorization to support services linking Santiago with Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis via Buenos Aires’ Jorge Newbery Airport. Existing Chilean-operated services include Aeroparque–Santiago, Mendoza–Santiago and Santiago–Mendoza–Rio de Janeiro. The decision forms part of Argentina’s Open Skies policy and follows the aviation memorandum signed with Chile in April 2024.