MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean skies open to foreign airlines

Chilean Sky Airlines effort to thwart the advance of competing Aerolineas del Sur suffered a major defeat this week when a Santiago court ruled that Aerolineas has the right to fly in and operate out of Chile.

Aerolineas del Sur first entered the Chilean market in August 2004.

By allowing the foreign company the right to operate, Chile can establish "a good relationship with both the airlines and their respective countries; if we allow them to fly here then Chilean airlines will encounter less problems flying in other countries," the court said.

Aerolineas del Sur's primary investor is the Spanish Group Marsans, which also owns part of AirComet and Aerolineas Argentinas.

"If we were to rule in favor of Sky Airlines' demands, we might also have to restrict Sky itself, considering that the company is almost completely controlled by a foreign businessman (Jurgen Paulmann Kemna)".

Kemma, a German, owns 55% of Sky Airlines. Kemma was unavailable for comment, according to Chile's La Nacion newspaper.

Aerolineas del Sur now has a 7.7% of the national air travel market. The Santiago Times