Flybondi files for insolvency proceedings following months-long crisis

Flybondi has filed for insolvency proceedings following a months-long crisis that ended with the airline completely paralyzed. The filing was completed last week, and the court in charge of ruling on the matter case was assigned on Monday. There is still no decision on what the company’s fate will be.

The low-cost carrier has gone 57 days without operating a single flight and reduced its fleet from 13 to just three aircraft. It has also laid off hundreds of workers and voluntary departures while also facing ongoing claims for unpaid wages and severance packages. 

The company also has liens, bankruptcy petitions, and 27 rejected checks totaling more than AR$2.9 billion (US$1.8 million at the official exchange rate).

The possibility that Flybondi would file for insolvency began to gain traction in August. At that time, the company was racking up unpaid wages, hundreds of pending severance payments, supplier claims, and bankruptcy petitions. 

Two months without flights and hundreds of layoffs The last Flybondi flight was a route between Bariloche and Ezeiza on August 5. Since then, the airline has not transported any passengers. As of Monday, it had gone 57 days without operating.

The shutdown was accompanied by a sharp reduction in the fleet. Of its original 13 aircrafts, it currently has only three in the country (none are currently operational). 

The other 10 were returned to their owners, although some still remain in Argentine territory while the redelivery process is completed. Its website has also gone out of service again.

In the first half of 2026, the company was flying with just one or two planes while racking service cancellations. By July, it had carried out only a fraction of its scheduled flights before halting operations entirely in August.

Flybondi also moved forward with a significant downsizing of its workforce. The first voluntary retirement packages began during the first half of the year, and layoffs accelerated starting in April.

The company also began to fall behind on payments to those who were still working. 

By August, employees reported that their June and July salaries and their mid-year bonus (known as aguinaldo) were pending. The more than 700 former employees were demanding severance pay for dismissal without cause and payments promised in voluntary retirement agreements.

By September, more than 900 departures had already been recorded between layoffs and voluntary retirements, according to the workers. At the end of that month, a group of former employees took their complaint to the labor secretariat and maintained that the situation affected about 1,000 families.

In that filing, they reported delays in payments for voluntary retirements, pending severance pay for wrongful termination, and wages owed to workers who were still linked to the company.

Originally published in mbito