MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lan Chile to introduce second weekly flight to Falklands.

A DISPUTE BETWEEN British Military officers in the Falkland Islands and officials of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) over the future arrival and departure times of Lan Chile flights to the Islands appears to be nearing an arbitrary conclusion, according to the General Manager of FIDC.

Several months ago it was reported that Military officers who operate the International Airport at Mt. Pleasant, some 30 miles from Port Stanley, were opposed to a plan to bring forward the arrival time of the weekly Lan Chile flight by several hours as it would clash with the departure of the regular Royal Air Force Tri Star flight from the Falklands to England.

FIDC officials have for sometime indicated their preference for the flight from Santiago, which currently lands in the Islands at around 3-00 each Saturday afternoon, to be brought forward to an early morning touchdown. This would enable outgoing Falklands passengers to link in with European and North American schedules later the same day. Currently passengers are required to overnight in Santiago and connect with Sunday flights, which results, for example, in a late Monday arrival in London.

However it now appears as if British Military officers have relented and are prepared to accommodate a change in the Lan Chile schedules. Richard Baker the General Manager of FIDC has said that, ?FIDC have had discussions with the military regarding the possibility of delaying the Tristar departure time by one or two hours. The Lan Chile flight could then arrive and depart by 9-30 on Saturday mornings without creating any security risk and the flight timings would allow a connection with the 7-00pm flight leaving Santiago for Madrid. The flight would therefore allow people to get to the United Kingdom by Sunday afternoon.

On the return leg the flight would still leave the United Kingdom on Thursday but, with the overnight stop being in Punta Arenas, people would arrive in the Falklands at about 8-00am on Saturday. Lan Chile are looking at how this proposal fits with their overall schedules and positioning of planes and a decision is expected in the very near future'.

How this earlier flight time would affect the once-a-month stopover in Rio Gallegos (Argentina) of the Santiago-Falklands Lan Chile flight is unknown, and whether Argentine Government officials would approve of such a measure is also uncertain. There appears not to have been any consultation with Buenos Aires, and if there has then Falklands officials have yet to indicate what t