MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine government takes over Aerolineas

Argentina announced Thursday it had reached an agreement with the Spanish group Marsans for the transfer of the country's main airline Aerolíenas Argentinas and its subsidiary Austral to the Argentine state.

"We've arrived to a very elaborate agreement", said Argentine Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime who broke the news. Jaime added that as of today "begins a period of 60 days for the transfer process" during which all necessary related issues, documents, numbers, auditing, will be addressed under the guidance of a "transition council" made up of three government representatives and two from the Spanish tourism group. The Argentine official said that the agreement would be formalized next Monday by the Planning Minister Julio De Vido and Marsans shareholders. "It's a highly significant milestone to have the Argentine flag air carrier back in service of Argentines and the national economy", said Jaime who pointed out that the companies unions "want Aerolineas and Austral to be part of the vigorous recovery Argentina is undergoing". No price was advanced for the operation, but Jaime said that the government will look for ways to inject fresh funds to the company and did not discard the re-privatization of Areolíneas "in not a too distant future". Pervious to this morning's announcement in Buenos Aires press reports from Madrid indicated that a spokesperson for Marsans said that an agreement had been reached to sell the airline. "The final price of the operation will be known in two months time", based on information supplied by both sides said the spokesperson. "We're satisfied how things worked out", he added underlining that it was a "private transaction". Aerolineas has been facing mounting financial and labor problems caused by (government) frozen air fares, high fuel costs and continuous disruptions allegedly sponsored by the Kirchner administration which is keen to recover what it considers iconic corporations for the Argentine state. Apparently during a court hearing last Tuesday Marsans Aerolineas admitted debts of 890 million US dollars of which 220 million were short term demandable. In a release Aerolineas said that commercial debt "accumulated rapidly in the last months, as of the beginning of the year, because of higher fuel costs, increased labor strife and delay in enforcing measured required by the air transport industry". Since last week the Argentine government has paid for back salaries, fuel and maintenance and leasing of over half the fleet which if not could have been grounded by the end of the month.