MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lan invests 27 million in Argentine associate

Lan Chile will be investing the equivalent of 27 million US dollars this year in Argentina where it will begin operating next June with fifteen different domestic and international destinations.

According to company sources the first routes to be operated from Buenos Aires next June by Aero 2000-Lan, the Argentine associate of the Chilean flag carrier, are Cordoba, Bariloche and Mendoza.

Authorisation has been requested for six additional domestic routes plus expansion of the existing international connections of Aero 2000-Lan which currently includes Madrid, Santiago de Chile, Miami, Montevideo and Sao Paulo.

The list of international destinations presented to the Argentine Transport Secretary are, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, Rio do Janeiro, Auckland, Sydney, Milan and Rome.

Aero 2000/Lan was created last month to comply with Argentine law and to penetrate a market which has been the objective of Lan Chile for years.

One of the conditions for the creation of Lan's subsidiary was that the new company absorb the 850 staff from LAFSA, an Argentine government managed airline, with the same benefits for at least three years. Apparently 650 did so but the deadline is this week and it's not clear what will happen to the 200 that have yet to sign in.

Some LAFSA employees have been protesting in the streets of Buenos Aires and in the city's domestic air terminal Aeroparque against Lan operations in Argentina. Aero2000-Lan plans this year to begin flying to Miami and domestically to Puerto Iguazu, Nequen, Salta, Tucuman, Ushuaia, El Calafate and Rosaio, with other destinations in 2006.