MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain supports re-Argentinization of Aerolíneas & Austral

Spanish vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega described on Friday the agreement by which Argentina regains control of flag air carrier Aerolineas Argentinas as “satisfactory”.

The administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner reached this week an agreement with the Spanish group Marsans for the transfer of 94.41% of shares from Aerolineas and its subsidiary Austral, which together dominate over almost 80% of Argentina's domestic flights. Part of the agreement is to make deficit strapped Aerolineas viable again, and later invite private investors to join the airline. "We've been in touch all along" the process and "we've accompanied the company through out the whole of the negotiation with the Argentine government", revealed the Spanish vice president quoted by the Madrid media. Fernandez de la Vega insisted that "we were in constant communication" with the company belonging to two powerful Spanish businessmen, Gonzalo Pascual and Geardo Diaz Ferran, "both in Madrid and in Buenos Aires". To that effect the Spanish government "has always worked to guarantee that the agreement contained elements which contributed to political security in Argentina". Following the agreement reached this week between the administration of Mrs. Kirchner and the Marsans group, comes a two month period for an internal audit of the company to determine the value of the shares to be transferred to the Argentine government which already holds a 5% stake.