MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“People in the Islands are Argentine”

The idea of the Argentine government is “to begin flights to the ”Islas Malvinas“ from Argentine territory and with Argentine flag carriers”, reinforcing the concept that “it's Argentine territory”, and that “for us all the people living in the Islands are Argentine”, Julián Tetamantti, Argentine Consul in Punta Arenas is quoted by La Prensa Austral.

Further on and according to Punta Arenas main daily, Mr. Tetamantti says that the Argentine government is negotiating with the British government the beginning of operations with Aerolíneas Argentinas in the framework of an accord reached in 1999 with the United Kingdom that also involved Lan Chile flights.

Given the stance adopted by the Argentine government the "only air alternatives to reach the Islands are centred in the Lan Chile's Saturday flights and the non commercial air traffic of the Royal Air Force every five days".

La Prensa Austral begins the article saying that the Argentine decision not to authorize this season thirteen Lan Chile charter flights to the Falklands has not gone unnoticed in Magallanes.

Paola Contardo, Lan Chile's Magallanes regional manager is quoted saying that the Argentine decision is not extensive to Saturday flights and that the cancelling of the charter flights has angered Islanders and will impact their local tourist industry.

The article also points out that the ban is extensive to all charter flights, and will put a break on the prospects of regional airline DAP that now has a four engine DASH 7 capable of carrying 48 passengers.

The Argentine objective with all the pressure that is being exerted could very well be to definitively push Lan Chile out of the Falklands' route, speculates La Prensa Austral.

John Rees British Consular representative in Punta Arenas admits there is concern in the British Embassy with the decisions adopted by the Argentine government regarding the Falklands.

Mr. Rees who is also operations manager for Antarctica XXI, a cruise vessel undertaking involving the "Grigoriy Mikheev", says that the Argentine position will affect the tourist activity and commercial traffic with the Falklands.

Jorge Norambuena, president of Magallanes Tourism Companies believes the Argentine attitude is legitimate ("it's their air space"), but also points out that the banning of charters will have an impact for Lan Chile and for Punta Arenas as the access route to the Falklands. However Mr. Norambuena stresses that Islanders are transit passengers and "don't represent much earnings for the area. They don't even bother to come and visit Magallanes cities and places".

But Mr. Norambuena also expresses surprise at the Argentine attitude. "My personal opinion is that cutting the options of an airline is not the best way to commercialize a tourist service. It would make more sense and be better seen if they tried to offer better alternatives to any airline, be it Argentine or foreign, for flights in an out of the Islands", concluded the president of Magallanes tourism organizations.