Ushuaia is the world’s southernmost town and closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires. Aviation is an essential part of life in the Tierra del Fuego, and the region has now become an unusual tourist destination, as Renato Fonseca and Rafael Reca discover.
While its (2,378km) location – 1,477 miles (2,378km) south of Buenos Aires – may suggest that Ushuaia is merely a gateway to Antarctica, it is becoming a major tourist destination in its own right as increasing numbers of travellers are visiting the Tierra del Fuego region. The area is particularly popular with sightseers wanting to explore its national parks or sail through Beagle Channel to visit the nearby penguin and seal colonies, as well as skiers and those wanting to trek through the Martial Mountains or climb on to the Martial Glacier.
This year, it is 25 years since Ushuaia’s Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH/SAWH) opened. The anniversary is much more than a celebration of the airport, but how it has helped changed the shape of the town and the region. The local tourism industry has grown considerably, not solely by the increase in air links, but by making the area a more attractive destination to many cruise ship operators.
Patagonia was first documented on film by Munich-born Günther Plüschow in the late 1920s. The pioneering German aviator and author was based in Punta Arenas, Chile – 155 miles (255km) to the northwest of Ushuaia – but began exploring Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in 1928 and was the first person to land an aircraft there.
However, during his second expedition to the area, he and his engineer, Ernst Dreblow, were killed when Plüschow’s Heinkel HD 24 floatplane crashed close to the Perito Moreno glacier on January 28, 1931. A replica of his aircraft, fitted with the original propeller, is on permanent display outside Aeroclub de Ushuaia, at what is now known as Ushuaia Naval Air Base, north of the current airport.
That same year, the first air links began in Ushuaia. A 2,625ft (800m) gravel runway was built by Argentinian prisoners from Ushuaia penitentiary (no longer in use, but you can tour the building), which enabled Rufino Luro Cambaceres to land an Advance Aircraft Company (later Waco Aircraft) ASO three-seat, open-cockpit biplane. The Argentinian Navy (Armada de la República Argentina, ARA) took control of the airfield in 1946 and increased the unpaved strip to 4,593ft (1,400m). Aeroposta began using the improved facility from 1948, using Douglas DC-3s on passenger services, as well as to transport fresh fruit and vegetables from the continent.
The ARA operated C-47A and the larger C-54 from Ushuaia, later replacing the Douglas piston-powered types with the Beechcraft King Air 200. The country’s presidential flight which used a Boeing 757-200, T-01 (c/n 25487), visited in 1995 and remains the largest aircraft to land at the base. Currently, its only users are the local flying club and HeliUshuaia, a local helicopter sightseeing company. A former ARA DC-3, 0172 (c/n 9578), has been preserved at the base in recognition of the force’s time at the site.
Fact: When Aerolíneas Argentinas began to place Boeing 737-800s on routes to the Tierra del Fuego hub, only captains were permitted to take off and land at Ushuaia.
Between March 1976 and December 1983, Argentina was controlled by a military junta. During the period, an increased focus on border security was taken by nationalists, who viewed Tierra del Fuego, divided between Argentina and Chile, to be of most concern. To this day, driving to Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego requires crossing the Strait of Magellan into Chile before re-entering Argentina, making it a very sensitive point. The establishing of a special customs regime made Tierra del Fuego a tax-free area and brought industrialisation to a region which had previously focused on sheep farming and fishing. The prospect of jobs led to an increase in the population, making it harder for Chile to claim the land as its own.
As Ushuaia grew, so did its demand for regular air links. Initially during the southern summer months of 1974-75, Aerolíneas Argentinas was granted a temporary licence to operate 43 flights using Boeing 737-200s. At the time, Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE) was the airline responsible for services in Patagonia. The state-owned carrier, a branch of the Fuerza Aérea Argentina (FAA, Argentinian Air Force), used Fokker F-27 Friendships and Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) C-130 Hercules. From 1976, LADE was also able to use its F-28 Fellowship regional jets on the route, however jets were banned during the winter months until 1984. The decision to grant commercial operators unrestricted access to Ushuaia followed a series of meetings between the ARA, pilots and the defence minister, enabling Aerolíneas to resume a three times weekly connection to Buenos Aires/ Jorge Newbery via Bahia Blanca, Rio Gallegos and Rio Grande.
Fact: One of the most popular cruises in the region is run by National Geographic, which offers a 14-day Antarctica Expedition costing more than £11,000 per person.
The naval base had been known for its challenging approach to runway 34, which included flying close to mountains and over parts of the town. Additionally, both runway thresholds are around 80-100ft (25-30m) from the Beagle Channel. Despite this, there were only two incidents in more than 10,000 flights. During a 1986 strike by commercial pilots, the government instructed pilots from the military to operate Aerolíneas aircraft to maintain the nation’s air transport links. On one such flight in July 1986, an F-28 Fellowship suffered a runway excursion in snowy conditions, while two years later a Boeing 737-200 ran off the end of the runway and into the Beagle Channel. There were no fatalities in either accident, but to reduce the risk of further incidents, the runway was extended to 5,545ft (1,690m) in 1987, while electronic sensors to inform pilots of wind speed and direction were installed in 1989.
Despite the improvements, it became evident that a larger, better equipped airport was needed, so work to build a more modern facility began in 1991. A 10,827ft (3,300m) runway was built on a heading of 25/07, which greatly reduced the crosswind on approach. It was also wider and stronger – enabling widebody airliners to land – as well as being equipped with a VOR/DME system. This was later upgraded to an instrument landing system. The new airport was opened on November 27, 1995, and named Malvinas Argentinas International Airport in recognition of Argentina’s sovereign claim to the Falkland Islands.
While the terminal was under construction, passengers were bussed 3 miles (5km) from the old airport to their aircraft. In June 1997, the new facility – a striking wood and stone building with steeply peaked roofs designed by Carlos Ott, was opened. It has since been expanded to provide more larger check-in and boarding areas, while provisions for a third airbridge were made, although it has yet to be added.
In 1998, a Boeing 747 visited for the first time. The Tower Air-operated example, N610FF (c/n 20501), was used on a charter service from Miami. The type would make regular appearances as Aerolíneas Argentinas transferred its fuel stops from Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia on routes from Buenos Aires to Auckland, New Zealand.
The Argentinian flag carrier would also use the Airbus A330-200 and A340-300 on rotations from Buenos Aires/Ezeiza owing to high demand during the peak season. During summer 2019-2020, Aerolineas flew around 40 weekly services to Ushuaia as it transported around 70% of the 60,000 passengers embarking on Antarctic cruises from Tierra del Fuego. Despite this, links to the capital are now primarily flown by Boeing 737s from the smaller Aeroparque/Jorge Newbery site, because the airline has recently downsized its widebody fleet to ten A330s. Austral, the company’s domestic subsidiary, also offers a daily connection to Aeroparque. This is complemented by a five-times-weekly rotation to Cordoba and a thrice weekly Bahía Blanca-Mar del Plata-Buenos Aires/Ezeiza route, all with Embraer E190s. A seasonal link to Santiago is also offered by LATAM Chile.
During the rest of the year, the airport is still quite busy, predominantly with links to Buenos Aires/Aeroparque provided by Aerolíneas Argentinas, Austral, JetSMART and LATAM Argentina. The flag carrier is the most dominant, offering 3-4 daily links, while its subsidiary also flies daily to Ushuaia. JetSMART currently offers two weekly links to the capital and, with the acquisition of Norwegian Air Argentina in December, this number is due to double once its former rival is absorbed. In addition to the capital connections, Aerolíneas serves El Calafate on a thrice weekly basis.
As tourism has quickly become the largest industry in the area, charter flights are increasingly common. German flag carrier Lufthansa has twice flown ad hoc charters from Frankfurt using its fleet of 747-400s, while an A340-600 visited from Munich in conjunction with the cruise liner MS Hamburg. Austrian Airlines and Air Austral 777-200s and Condor 767-300ERs have also visited relating to cruises.
Due to the airport’s remote location close to Antarctica, aircraft supporting scientific expeditions to the southern polar region also visit the Argentinian outpost. As part of Operation IceBridge, a NASA mission to monitor changes in polar ice, the US aeronautical branch deployed its Lockheed P-3B Orion, N426NA (c/n 5175), to Ushuaia in October 2017 and Douglas DC-8-72, N817NA (c/n 46082), in November 2018. While IceBridge had begun in 2009, monitoring southern polar regions had previously taken place at Punta Arenas in Chile.
Speaking at the time, Nathan Kurtz, an IceBridge project scientist stated: “By flying from Ushuaia instead of Punta Arenas, we’re saving ourselves an hour of flight time during our transit to and from Antarctica. Because we’re trying to maximise our time collecting new data over and around Antarctica, that hour is a big deal.”
Ilyushin Il-76s on their way to the frozen continent have also made fuelling and technical stops at the Tierra del Fuego hub, including GST Aero UN-76004 (c/n 0013434018), which visited in 2004, while Air Almaty’s UP-I7601 (c/n 1013409295) made appearances in 2013 and 2016. Foreign military visitors are rare, although the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) deployed a KC-767, MM62228 (c/n 33688), to the region on a training exercise in June 2017, while a Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire) Airbus A310, T22-2 (c/n 551), was used to repatriate the body of a sailor who had died on the Spanish polar research vessel BIO Hesperides.
At the beginning of its regional jets programme in the mid-1990s, Embraer also used the airport for cold weather testing their ERJ135s and 145s.
Unusually, two Air France Concordes had visited Ushuaia as part of a fascinating round-the-world charter during January 1999.
Although the airport is vastly superior to its predecessor, as no special training is required to land there, it is still a dangerous and complicated facility to operate to and from. Mount Olivia and Mount Susana have yet to move away, the weather is extraordinarily unpredictable and can change within minutes, and winds can change speed and direction suddenly. Heavy turbulence is almost always present during the approach, especially when the winds are from the north, but with modern aircraft and instruments it is as safe as any other airport.
While the town has experienced a downturn in terms of its industrial output, the future still looks promising. Passenger movements grew by 35% between 2015 and 2019 to 929,000 people passing through the terminal doors. With low-cost carriers due to play an important role in the coming summer season and the country’s largest LCC, flybondi, still to make an entrance, it is likely that the facility will surpass 1m passengers in the coming years.
Ushuaia is Argentina’s 11th busiest airport in terms of passengers and, given the rate at which tourism in the region continues to grow, it is expected that the facility may climb another two or three positions this year. The city is also a popular domestic tourist destination and, with the country’s economic performance making foreign travel expensive and Argentina’s low-cost market only just taking off, Tierra del Fuego may receive a further boost in visitor numbers.
Cruise ships are also becoming more and more popular. In January 2020 alone, 7,000 people passed through the airport to begin or end their cruises. Additionally, the new government is likely to make manufacturing in Ushuaia attractive once more, increasing the flow of goods to and from the city. Plüschow’s legacy lives on and is available for anyone who wishes to fly to the end of the world.
