Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) — Airport Guide 2026

🏢 Terminal Layout & the AEP vs. EZE Split

The building

AEP is one terminal, linear, and quick to navigate. The structure runs along Avenida Costanera Rafael Obligado with the Río de la Plata on one side and the Palermo parks on the other. Arrivals are ground-floor; check-in and departures are above. The three boarding sectors — A, B, and C — connect inside the same building, so a “sector change” is a walk rather than a shuttle. Total floor area is over 30,000 m². The terminal runs 24 hours, though retail and most food close with the last domestic departures of the evening.

The airport traces its origins to a 1947 recreational airfield — “an aerodrome within a park,” per the original design brief — and takes its name from Jorge Newbery, an Argentine aviation figure of the early 20th century. The version you walk through now is substantially newer: the terminal was re-inaugurated in March 2021 after works that extended the single runway by 590 metres to 2,690 m and added terminal space on the international side. The runway sits on reclaimed land at the river’s edge, which is why approaches and departures run out over the water — take a window seat.

For a single-terminal, single-runway operation, AEP moves serious volume: roughly 14.9 million passengers in 2024, almost entirely domestic. That concentration through one building explains the lounge queues and the security back-ups at peak hours. The trade-off is that the place is compact: kerb to gate is a short walk, and a connection between sectors A, B, and C takes a few minutes on foot.

Arrivals and ground transport — taxi rank, rideshare pickup, bus stops — sit on the city-facing side away from the river. The terminal is signed in Spanish and English. One thing to sort out before you walk out: rideshare apps send you to a specific car park rather than the arrivals kerb. Read the transport section first.

AEP versus EZE

AEP handles the domestic network — Bariloche, Mendoza, Iguazú, Salta, El Calafate, Ushuaia, Córdoba, and dozens more — plus short regional international hops: Montevideo and Punta del Este in Uruguay, Asunción in Paraguay, Santiago in Chile, and São Paulo and Rio in Brazil. Anything outside South America departs from Ezeiza.

Colectivo line 8 connects both airports, cheap on SUBE and adequate on a budget. With luggage and a flight to make, take a car.

Airlines at AEP

Aerolíneas Argentinas runs AEP as its domestic hub. JetSmart Argentina and Flybondi base their low-cost domestic operations here. LATAM operates regional and domestic services; GOL covers Brazil routes; Copa connects through Panama; Paranair runs Paraguay links. Intercontinental service does not operate from AEP.

🛂 Visas, Entry & the 2025 Insurance Requirement

Visa-free entry. US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian, and most Western and Latin American passport holders enter for tourism without a visa for up to 90 days. No advance registration, no e-visa form. Carry a passport valid for the duration of your stay — the six-months-beyond-arrival convention is the safe standard even where not strictly required.

The reciprocity fee no longer exists. Argentina charged entry fees on US, Canadian, and Australian travellers for years. The US charge was eliminated by decree in 2016; the Canadian and Australian charges were suspended in 2017–2018. None of them is collected in 2026. Any website attempting to sell you an “Argentina reciprocity fee payment” is selling you nothing.

No yellow fever requirement, no altitude concern. Buenos Aires is at sea level. Yellow fever vaccination is not required as a border condition for entry to Argentina; it only becomes a consideration if you’re travelling to the subtropical northeast (Iguazú/Misiones), and even there it’s a health recommendation rather than a border requirement. For an AEP arrival, nothing to action here.

💱 Currency — What Changed in 2025 and What It Means Now

For most of the previous decade, Argentina ran a controlled official exchange rate alongside a parallel “blue dollar” cash market, and the gap between them was large — at times the blue rate gave tourists 50–80% more pesos per dollar than the official one. The standing advice for years: bring crisp US dollar bills, find a cueva, never use your card.

That regime ended. In April 2025, the Milei government lifted most currency controls (the cepo cambiario) and moved to a floating band between roughly 1,000 and 1,400 pesos per dollar. As of late May 2026, the official rate, the blue cash rate, and the card/MEP rate have all converged in the range of 1,400–1,460 ARS per USD, with only a small spread between them. The two-tier premium that defined a trip to Argentina is, for now, gone.

Practical 2026 implications:

• Cards work again. Visa and Mastercard now transact close to the prevailing rate. The reason to avoid cards used to be that they billed at the punitive official rate; that gap has closed.
• ATMs work but impose low per-withdrawal caps. Argentine ATMs charge a fixed peso fee per transaction regardless of amount. One large withdrawal is cheaper than several small ones.
• Cash USD still has a small edge at a cueva or exchange house — a few percent, not a near-doubling. A cushion of clean US dollar bills remains useful as backup; engineering your whole trip around cash-dollar arbitrage no longer is.
• Western Union has lost most of its advantage for the same reason. Check the live rate on the day rather than assuming the old dynamics apply.

The peso now comes in notes of 1,000, 2,000, 10,000, and 20,000 pesos — higher denominations introduced because inflation made the old 100s and 500s near-useless. Inflation persists, so peso prices in this guide are anchored to May 2026 and will drift. USD equivalents are the more stable reference.

🚆 Getting Into the City

AEP’s 6.5 km from the centre is its headline advantage. Nothing from this airport is a long haul — the choice is between cost and convenience, not fast and slow.

🚕 Official Taxi — QR Fixed-Fare System

The regulated taxi rank is in the domestic arrivals area near the McDonald’s. The current system uses a QR code: scan it, enter your destination, passenger count, and luggage, and you receive a fixed regulated fare before getting in the car — no meter negotiation. Expect roughly ARS 8,000–15,000 to central neighbourhoods (Recoleta, Microcentro, Palermo) as of May 2026, approximately USD 6–11, taking 10–20 minutes. Use the official rank; ignore anyone offering rides inside the terminal.

📱 Rideshare Apps — Uber, Cabify, DiDi

All three operate in Buenos Aires and are widely used. They’re usually a touch cheaper than taxis and fare is confirmed in-app before departure. The pickup choreography at AEP requires a note:

• Uber picks up from the South Parking Lot (Estacionamiento Sur) — follow signs from the terminal.
• Cabify uses the remises stand near Tostado Café Club in domestic arrivals, and stand C1 in international arrivals.
• DiDi operates citywide; follow the in-app pickup point.

Match the plate and driver name in the app before getting in. App fares to the centre tend to land in the ARS 7,000–13,000 range depending on surge — a touch under the taxi.

🚌 City Bus (Colectivo)

Line 114 (new for 2026). On 20 February 2026, line 114 extended its route (Ramal C) to reach Aeroparque for the first time, running from the airport’s South Parking area through Núñez to Villa Devoto in the city’s west. It became the eighth bus line to serve AEP and closed a long-standing gap toward the western barrios. For the central tourist neighbourhoods, lines 33 and 45 remain the more direct picks; line 114 is the right option if Devoto or Núñez is your destination.

Line 8 to Ezeiza. Colectivo line 8 runs between AEP and EZE — cheap on SUBE, slow with luggage. For a tight connection, take a car.

The SUBE Card

SUBE is the single contactless card that pays for every colectivo, the Subte (metro), and the commuter trains, including the Mitre line out to Tigre. Buy the physical card at a kiosk or station, load credit in cash or at a terminal, and tap on. Registering the card in your name unlocks the cheaper fare tier (ARS 900 vs. ARS 1,200 unregistered), but registration is bureaucratic for a short stay — most visitors use it unregistered. One card can’t pay for two passengers on the same vehicle in the standard setup, so a travelling pair needs two cards or should take a car.

🚌 Tienda León Shuttle

Manuel Tienda León runs scheduled airport coach services, principally the AEP–EZE and EZE–centre legs. From AEP into town it’s a fixed-price coach option around USD 8 equivalent, departing roughly every 30–45 minutes across the day. Reviews on punctuality are mixed. For the short AEP-to-centre run, a taxi or rideshare is usually better value given how close the airport is.

🚗 Rental Car

Major agencies have desks at AEP. For a Buenos Aires city stay, a car is a liability — parking is scarce, traffic is assertive, and the centre is walkable and well-served by Subte and colectivos. Rent only if your plan is to drive out of the city.

The short version: colectivo if you’re travelling light and watching pesos (~ARS 900 on SUBE); app or taxi for most people (~ARS 8,000–15,000, 10–20 min); line 8 only for the AEP–EZE transfer on a budget; line 114 for the western barrios.

🛋️ Lounges

AEP is a domestic-first airport, and the lounge provision reflects that. One Priority Pass option, two airline-restricted lounges, and no global flagship brand.

Aerolíneas Argentinas Club Cóndor is near Gate 13 in the domestic departures area, open roughly 04:30–23:30. Access for Aerolíneas Club Cóndor and Aerolíneas Plus Diamond/Platinum members, premium-cabin passengers, and eligible SkyTeam partner elites. Not available to general travellers with a credit card.

LATAM Lounge is in the Terminal A sector, open roughly 05:00–23:00, serving LATAM premium passengers and oneworld elites.

There is no Amex Centurion lounge or equivalent global-brand flagship at AEP. If your card’s headline lounge benefit is a specific premium brand, assume it isn’t here and plan around the AMAE/Priority Pass route or use the terminal cafés. Given that central Buenos Aires is 15 minutes away, a long pre-flight lounge stay matters less at AEP than at an airport an hour outside the city.

🍽️ Food Before You Fly

The terminal food court is functional: cafés, fast food, and a few sit-down counters spread across the levels, thinning out late at night. Airport pricing applies — the café con leche and medialunas (coffee and the small, sweet Argentine croissants) that you’d get at a corner café costs roughly 30–50% more inside the terminal. The gap is real but not unusual for an airport.

What to know for eating in the city:

• Asado / parrilla — Argentine grilled beef is the national occasion. A proper parrilla lunch in Palermo or Recoleta is worth planning; the airport version is not.
• Empanadas — baked or fried hand pies, carne (beef) the default, cheap and solid and suitable for eating on a domestic flight.
• Milanesa — breaded cutlet, often served napolitana with ham, cheese, and tomato; the everyday comfort plate.
• Medialunas and alfajores — the croissants and the dulce-de-leche sandwich cookies. Alfajores are the standard edible souvenir; brands like Havanna are sold throughout the terminal.

Specific restaurant names aren’t listed here — concession cycles change them faster than guides update. Argentine café and grill chains plus the global fast-food names are present. For anything worth remembering, eat in the city.

💡 Layovers — What’s Viable, What Isn’t

AEP’s position in the city makes layovers usable in a way that Ezeiza’s distance never does. From AEP, 20 minutes each way by car covers the round-trip transit — call it 40–50 minutes of travel time before adding the pre-flight buffer.

The layover math:
– Domestic departure: aim to be back at the terminal 90 minutes before departure.
– Regional international departure: allow 2 hours.
– That makes the effective window: total layover length minus 90 minutes (or 120) minus 40–50 minutes transit.

In-City Options (by car, 10–20 min)

Puerto Madero (~10–15 min) — the redeveloped dockside district along the river. Walkable, the Puente de la Mujer footbridge, restaurants. The most time-efficient slice of Buenos Aires for a layover.

Recoleta (~10–15 min) — the Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Perón is buried among the mausoleums, is the main draw; the surrounding streets represent the city’s grand-European quarter.

Palermo (~2 km, under 10 min) — parks, the Rose Garden, and the Palermo Soho restaurant grid. Effectively adjacent to the airport.

Day-Trips (Not Layovers)

🔧 Practical Notes

Wi-Fi and SIM. AEP has free terminal Wi-Fi. For mobile data, an eSIM bought before you travel is the cleanest option. Local providers (Claro, Movistar, Personal) sell tourist SIMs; setup with a foreign passport can be time-consuming.

Money, briefly. Pay taxis and rideshares by card; pull pesos from an ATM in town rather than at the airport (low caps, high fees — withdraw the maximum in one transaction); keep some clean US dollar bills as backup. See the currency section for the full picture; the short version is that the old blue-dollar arbitrage is not the move in 2026.

Safety. Buenos Aires has ordinary urban petty crime: phone snatching at café tables, pickpocketing on crowded colectivos and the Subte, distraction scams. Keep your phone off the table and your bag in your lap on public transport. The area around Retiro station — where the Mitre/Tigre train departs and adjacent to the long-distance bus terminal — warrants extra attention, particularly after dark. Use the official taxi rank or in-app driver matching rather than unmarked vehicles.

Tipping. Around 10% at restaurants if service isn’t already included (the cubierto cover charge is separate and not a tip). Taxis: round up. Appreciated, not rigidly expected.

Tap water. Safe to drink in Buenos Aires. Bottled water is available everywhere if you prefer it; it’s not a health requirement in the city.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

📊 At a Glance — AEP 2026