MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Marsans Aerolineas stands on purchase order of 61 Airbus

Spain's Marsans is forging ahead with its purchase of 61 Airbus planes despite the looming sale of its subsidiary Aerolineas Argentinas, which was due to take around 40 of the aircraft, a spokesman for the travel firm said on Friday according to press reports from Spain.

Last October's deal, which included the purchase of four A380 superjumbos, was the foundation of Marsans' project to challenge Iberia's dominance of Europe-Latin America routes by funneling traffic through a new hub in Barcelona. It planned to use Air Comet, Aerolineas, Austral and Spanair, however since it signed the deal with Airbus last October, it withdrew from the bidding for SAS-owned Spanair and has agreed to sell Argentina's flag air carrier to the country. "The order is still firm, and will continue to be. There has been absolutely no change," indicated Marsans Communications Director Angel del Rio. Del Rio said all options remained open for the privately-owned travel group. It could re-launch its South Atlantic plan or re-sell the aircraft to other airlines, thus allowing them to jump Airbus's waiting list. One of the potential clients could even be Aerolineas. The sale of Marsans' 95% stake in Aerolineas has become increasingly fractious since the deal was agreed in mid-July as the two sides argue over the price of the airline with debts of around 900 million US dollars. Argentina's transport secretary Ricardo Jaime said on Wednesday the government should not have to pay Marsans anything for the carrier, which has been plagued by worker strikes and complaints about poor service. Del Rio said independent assessors would decide the company's value, although Argentina's legislature will also have to agree the sale price.