MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“No second Lan Chile flight”

A second weekly Lan Chile flight between the Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas is out of the question, reports Buenos Aires daily “Clarín” in its Monday edition.

Although there has been no official confirmation or denial of the news, Clarín indicates that last week the Argentine government apparently denied a second flight request from Lan Chile. Apparently, "secret negotiations had been going on for some time".

Buenos Aires is insistent in direct flights between the Islands and Argentine territory, given the fact that 21 years have elapsed since the end of the South Atlantic 1982 conflict. If Lufthansa landed in Paris in 1962, 17 years after the end of the Nazi occupation, why can't an Argentine airline operate from Falklands, asks Clarín.

Further on the article says that at the most, Lan Chile can resort to larger aircrafts but "no second weekly flight".

Clarin recalls that until 1982 the air link was with Comodoro Rivadavia. Almost ten years after the war, Argentina accepted a weekly flight to Falklands from Punta Arenas but in 1998 when General Pinochet was arrested in Britain, the Chilean government decided to cancel the link.

It was not until October 1999 that the weekly MPA-Punta Arenas flight resumed but after long discussions that included a monthly stop in Rio Gallegos, as part of the July 1999 understanding that also lifted the ban for travellers to the Islands holders of Argentine passports.

During the recent Argentine presidential campaign leading to Mr. Kirchner taking office last May 25, Aerolíneas Argentinas requested authorization to fly directly to Falklands but was denied by Britain.

Apparently the second flight request for Lan Chile was discussed during the recent Argentine-British Conference held at the end of October in Buenos Aires.