The clock is ticking for low-cost airline Flybondi. Argentina’s Transport Secretariat has given the company 48 hours to reduce the number of flights it is canceling or face fines and other potential sanctions.

The move, announced by the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC, by its Spanish initials) on Wednesday, comes after Flybondi canceled 70 flights in one weekend. The result was 12,000 stranded passengers and the dubious honor of being third in the world in a ranking of airlines that have canceled the most flights.

According to ANAC’s press release, 384 out of 1991 Flybondi flights were canceled in November: 20% of the airline’s flights. An estimated 700 had to be rescheduled.

“The company has been given an ultimatum to submit a detailed plan to improve service within 48 hours. The plan must include a significant reduction in cancellations and the implementation of contingency measures that guarantee the protection of passengers’ rights,” read the communiqué.

If the low-cost airline does not present a plan within the stipulated time, it will be subjected to a fine and if the cancellations persist, to “more expansive contingency measures.”

“The remediation plan must adjust the number of flight requests made by the airline to ANAC according to its real operational capacity, not offering flights that it cannot guarantee nor operate effectively,” said the communiqué. 

Passengers told the Herald earlier this week that flights were consistently overbooked, and delays, cancellations, and detours came with little help from the company. 

Flybondi did not immediately respond to the Herald’s request for comment. According to the flight tracker Flight Aware, at the time of writing, 27% of Flybondi’s flights were delayed, and only two were canceled outright on Wednesday.

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