MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Breaking News from Pta. Arenas.

Headlines:
Antarctic residents vote in Chilean election; Lan Chile “welcomes competition”; Punta Arenas airport undergoing maintenance; Cruise season begins in southern Chile.

Antarctic residents vote in Chilean election.

According to the Chilean Electoral Roll this Sunday 144 men and 40 women permanently living in Antarctica are entitled to vote for Cape Horn municipal authorities since the Chilean bases have been administratively incorporated to this extreme region of Chile. This will be the first time Chilean residents in Antarctica will vote specifically belonging to municipality since until now they simply cast ballots for Punta Arenas Councillors. The town of Cape Horn has 1,533 voters registered (906 men and 627 women) without including Antarctic residents. The Antarctic community is the smallest of the region. In the whole of Magallanes Region this Sunday October 31, a total of 100,047 are registered to vote with 74,417 corresponding to Punta Arenas city, 40,620 men and 33,797 women. However turnout, according to previous elections is closer to 75%. Opinion polls anticipate that candidates from the ruling coalition will again win. In Santiago, President Ricardo Lagos in a last appeal before the pre electoral ban called upon all Chileans to vote this Sunday quietly and peacefully, and so confirming the "strong democratic tradition of Chile".

Lan Chile "welcomes competition".

The publicity campaign of Aerolineas del Sur promising air rates 19% cheaper to destinations such as Punta Arenas received an aseptic reply from Lan Chile virtually the only commercial airline to fly to the extreme south of Chile. Last Monday Aerolineas del Sur (which belong to the Spanish tourism group Marsans that also happens to own Aerolineas Argentina), published full page ads in Santiago newspapers with the cheaper air rates and announcing that is expects to begin operations November 30, when apparently Chilean Aviation authorities will extend the authorization to the new company. Aerolineas del Sur fleet will include four Boeing 737/200 and later on a Boeing 747/200. "As we've always said, competition stimulates us and we're used to it. Welcome competition. This comes to show that Chile is an absolutely open market with no entry barriers", said Lan Chile in a brief release distributed in Santiago. Lan recalled that Chilean air rates are very competitive and this has been so for quiet some time in the domestic market. "However the same can not be said about conditions in Argentina", underlined Lan which so far has been unable to have access to the Argentine domestic market because of successive legal and non legal impediments. Sky Airline another Chilean air carrier which has plans to fly to Punta Arenas said that the company was not concerned about Aerolíneas del Sur, "let's see them operate first". Sky Airlines immediate objective is flying charters to Antarctica.

Punta Arenas airport undergoing maintenance.

Punta Arenas airport in currently undergoing maintenance tarmac work in its main runway which poses a potential reduction in regular flights if winds blow above 35 knots, reports La Prensa Autral. Apparently above that wind strength international rules ban commercial flights from landing or taking off in such conditions because of the so called cross winds. Punta Arenas airport has three runways, the main identified as 07-25 is 2,790 metres long, 45 metres wide and runs east/west; a second, 12-30 is 2,400metres long, 45 metres wide and runs southeast/north, and finally 01.19, which is 1,677 metres long and 45 metres wide oriented north/south. The contracted company Bitumex has 120 days to complete maintenance work in the main runway 07-25. Only the secondary runway 12-30 remains operational. Nelson Ibañez, head of the Punta Arenas airport admitted that there could be some complications with commercial flights, particularly with winds above 35 knots (65 kilometres per hour), since the alternative runway is exposed to turbulent cross winds. "If the situation arises, the incoming flight will have to be re-scheduled to some other airport with all the inconveniencies this represents for passengers arriving and those ready to leave", said Mr. Ibañez. However for smaller aircraft such as those flying for DAP airlines o medical evacuations, there should be no problems since at all times 1,300 metres of the main runway remain operational for these kind of flights. "This obviously does not apply to the Boeing 737 which needs a longer runway", cautioned Mr. Ibañez, who revealed the main landing strip will remain closed until December 31 "although we're confident the company will finish the re-carpeting before then".

Cruise season begins in southern Chile.

With the arrival last Friday of "Amsterdam", the official cruise season began in Punta Arenas. "Amsterdam" with 1,340 passengers and 520 crewmembers is scheduled to call in the extreme south of Chile ten times. From Punta Arenas "Amsterdam" is scheduled to call in Ushuaia, Puerto Williams, Cape Horn, Falkland Islands and finally Buenos Aires. Eduardo Manzanares Managing Director of the Austral Port Company said that Punta Arenas "has implemented all the new international ISPS security measures, a coordinated task involving not only port authorities but Coast Guard and Carabineros". Meantime in Montevideo all is ready to receive "Saga Pearl" the first cruise vessel to call in Uruguay next November 4. Local authorities said a small reception party has been organized for the "Saga Pearl" but since she falls into the category of relatively small cruises, the big bash will take place when "Queen Elizabeth II", arrives towards the end of November. Uruguayan port authorities revealed that at least 57 cruise vessels have confirmed calls in Montevideo and another 15 in Punta del Este, one of the most fashionable sea resorts in the southern Atlantic.