MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina conditions cruise season flights.

Argentina is conditioning the authorization of charter flights to the Falklands during the first quarter of 2004 to the beginning of a round of talks next March for the establishment of a direct commercial flight between Argentina and the Islands.

According to reports in the Buenos Aires press Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafael Bielsa said the flight could be direct from Buenos Aires to "Puerto Argentino/Stanley" or with a stop in Comodoro Rivadavia.

"What's important is to have a flight from Argentina to "Puerto Argentino/Stanley", stressed Mr. Bielsa to the press corps in the presidential aircraft Tango 01 during the return trip from Santa Cruz with President Nestor Kirchner and visiting Spanish King Juan Carlos.

Apparently preliminary contacts have begun with the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.

The controversy came to light this month when Lan Chile that has a weekly flight to the Falklands and during the Islands cruise season covers most charter passenger replacement flights, requested 27 permits for the period extending from November to March. Those are the peak months of the cruise season in the Falklands that operate an estimated 30 to 40,000 visitors every season.

According to the Argentine press, British diplomats described the situation as "co action", however they accepted to talk about the issue and a letter allegedly was formally presented by UK Ambassador Sir Christopher Robin to the Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry.

In response to this gesture Argentina authorized three charter flights during November, says the Argentine press in spite of the fact that the Argentines were not at all pleased with the Foreign Office's stance expressed in the letter that any understanding must count with the ad referendum approval of the Islanders.

Falklands Councillor John Birmingham, Chairman of the Tourism Committee confirmed this week in Stanley that "charter flights will continue for the rest of the year".

The current weekly Lan Chile Punta Arenas-MPA flight with a monthly stop in Rio Gallegos is not part of the negotiation.

Meantime two Argentine airlines Southern Winds and Federales (a recently created government carrier with the purpose of absorbing the staff from two failed private companies) formally requested the Argentine government authorization to fly to the Falklands.

Jorge Baravalle, manager of Federales admitted he was making the request following a suggestion from President Kirchner himself.

For several years now the Falklands' government, business community and residents have been thinking about a second weekly Lan Chile flight from Punta Arenas. However a formal request was never presented and Islanders have consistently insisted in rejecting any suggestions of direct links with Argentina, even from the British Foreign Office.

The current weekly link with a monthly stop in Rio Gallegos was negotiated in 1999 by former Argentine Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella taking advantage of the General Pinochet incident when he was detained in Britain.