MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands air link deal set to irk UK.

In a move bound to rouse already deteriorating diplomatic relations with the UK, Argentina has given permission for a national airline to begin direct flights to the Falkland Islands.

On Thursday, Argentina's transport secretary granted flagship carrier Aerolineas Argentinas two routes connecting Buenos Aires with Port Stanley. The government had previously authorised the same rights to another local airline, Lafsa. Islanders reject the prospect of regularly scheduled Argentine flights as a veiled threat to British sovereignty.

The Foreign Office has vowed to respect the Islanders' wishes.

The move comes amid an intense lobbying effort by the Foreign Office to convince Argentina to allow Islanders more frequent air links to the South American mainland, so they can better profit from an increase in tourism.

'Ten years ago the Falklands Government authorised charter flights by LAN CHILE, which also operates a weekly scheduled service from Santiago, every Saturday. Most of the charters are designed to accommodate passengers exchanges for cruise vessels visting the Islands. However last year the Argentine Government, angered by the refusal of Falklands authorities to allow similar charters from Buenos Aires, imposed a ban on all Lan Chile charter flights that occupy Argentine air space'.

In February Bill Rammell, foreign office minister, travelled to Buenos Aires to put an end to the diplomatic row, but failed to reach an agreement with his Argentine counterparts.

The feud over air links has hampered 10 years of steady progress towards normalising relations between the islands and their former invader.

Although Argentina has never given up its sovereignty claim over the islands, former president Carlos Menem in the last decade turned a blind eye to the issue, focusing instead on winning more modest concessions.

The result was a breakthrough 1999 accord that allowed Argentine tourists to travel to the islands for the first time since the short-lived war ended in 1982.

Néstor Kirchner, Argentina's current President has abandoned his predecessor's policy of detente since taking office a year ago.(FT)