MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Aerolineas Argentinas Malvinas' flight application rejected

Plans by Aerolineas Argentinas to operate a twice weekly air service to the Falklands have been rejected by the Department of Transport in Britain. An application was made by the airline on 2 April, to open an air link between Buenos Aires, Rio Gallegos and the Islands. Had permission been granted the airline proposed to begin the service as early as next month.

According to members of the Falkland Islands Government, the Department of Transport decided that the application was 'inappropriate'. It was felt that any such arrangement would have to be agreed by the eight elected members of the Islands Council, and British and Argentine officials.

'There would have been very little chance of that happening', Councillor John Birmingham told Falklands radio.

A letter has been sent to Aerolineas Argentinas giving the Department of Transports decision. Reports in Buenos Aires suggested that should former Argentine President, Carlos Menem, be re-elected in the forthcoming elections, he planned to take passage on the first flight to the Islands.

Shortly after the airline announced its decision to seek permission to operate a twice weekly service, Falklands Councillor Mike Summers had said that neither Councillors not the public would want an Argentine airline operating into the Islands. The Falklands Governor Howard Pearce similarly dismissed the proposal as 'inappropriate', recalling that the Islands already have a regular weekly link with Lan Chile to Santiago.

Falklands officials were quick to point out that air links between mainland South America and the Islands, are covered under the terms of the July 1999 Joint Statement, which was signed by the Argentine, British and Falklands Governments.

In Stanley as the Department of Transport's decision was announced, one Islander remarked that, 'Aerolines Argentinas would have little chance of operating a twice weekly service to the Falklands, even if they tried again in 20 years time!'.

Patrick Watts,
Port Stanley.