MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner opens renewed Rio Gallegos airport.

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner officially inaugurated this week the renewed air terminal of Rio Gallegos which now also includes a 3,500 metres runway, one of the longest in the area.

Mr. Kirchner said that with all the improvements Rio Gallegos airport now virtually has "international" category with a development capacity horizon of ten years which "will enable it to operate direct international flights to Islas Malvinas".

According to the Argentine press an equivalent of eight million US dollars were invested in extending the runway, improving illumination for night operations, a VIP lounge built with Santa Cruz province rock, expansion of the main lobby and an extensible gate system which Mr. Kirchner made a point in highlighting.

"The extensible gate is something like a touch of pious love for us mortals who will no longer have to be exposed to howling winds of 100 kilometres per hour".

However President Kirchner after praising the private managers of Rio Gallegos airport for their investment and confidence in Argentina and Patagonia said that "this kind of ceremonies represent moments of joy, but also an opportunity for complaints" and went on to demand from Aerolineas Argentinas officials present at the ceremony "more flights to the region", which was strongly applauded by a crowd of 300 people present at the opening.

"Patagonia deserves many more flights from Aerolineas. Let's hope that in the coming hours the company gives us the satisfaction to which we are entitled: that is sufficient flights connecting Rio Gallegos and Santa Cruz to the rest of the country" underlined the Argentine president.

Ernesto Gutiérrez CEO for Aeropuertos Argentinos 2000, the company which manages the renewed airport concession said that Santa Cruz has become one of the "most active attractions because of its territorial immensity and also because its home for some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, glaciers", besides the fact that "it's the land of our president, of the man who leads the destiny of Argentina and we all wish to know where he was born and grew up".

The presidential delegation included First Lady Senator Cristina Fernandez, Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez, Legal Secretary of the Executive Carlos Zannini, Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime; Tourism Secretary Enrique Meyer and National Intelligence Chief Hector Icazuriaga, all of them members of the inner circle of Mr. Kirchner's administration.

The host was also a Kirchner man, Sergio Acevedo whom the president trusted none less than the governorship of the province he ran for over a decade before jumping to Buenos Aires.

Another outstanding figure present at the ceremony for which Mr. Kirchner had kind words was Eduardo Eurnekian, the main shareholder of Aeropuertos Argentinos 2000, the businessman who financed most of the building of the Argentine War Memorial in Darwin.