MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina complains South African Airways decision to cut the Buenos Aires route
Argentina's ambassador to South Africa, Carlos Sersale di Cerisano, has criticized South African Airways’ (SAA’s) move to end its service to Buenos Aires as a “political decision” not based on commercial criteria. SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said the airline was cutting long-haul routes from its network as part of a turnaround strategy to restore profitability. Cutting the route between Argentina and South Africa had to be seen in that context. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesSo Argentina expects them to invest and buy newer airplanes that are more fuel efficient so they can continue to provide a service to Argentina! And if they are losing money already, then how can they be expected to purchases new planes. Hmm so why doesn't Argentina's own airline take over the route instead then?!
Nov 07th, 2013 - 09:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0As for calling in a political decision, that's just stupid, its clear the China is a much bigger economy with more people able to afford to travel to south Africa then in Argentina. So the decision was economical not political and the only ones Politicising this is Argentina, but no surprise there i guess!
I imagine they're got the hump that SA clearly considers Brazil of greater importance than Argentina. But looking on the bright side, perhaps it means there's another hangar to steal.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 09:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0Shorter distance between Johannesburg and Sao Paulo than it is between Johannesburg and Buenos Aires. And who, in their right mind, wants to go to argieland anyway?
Nov 07th, 2013 - 10:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0“The Buenos Aires route could make money if operated with more fuel-efficient aircraft.”
Nov 07th, 2013 - 12:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So what are you waiting for get Aerolineas on the case and if they are not up to it get a proper airline like Lan to do it.
But our Argentinian posters keep telling us they don't need to do business with any other countries for Argentina to be successful !
Nov 07th, 2013 - 12:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@4 The funny thing is SAA are one of rapidly reducing number of airlines still operating A340s (they use them on the BUE route), every one is getting rid, everyone apart from AR who have been getting more. Maybe they are hoping if SAA get newer planes they can get their castoffs on the cheap?
Nov 07th, 2013 - 12:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Apparently SAA and the South African department of public enterprises have just ignored all the letters the ambassador has sent to them.
“”“”“Apparently SAA and the South African department of public enterprises have just ignored all the letters the ambassador has sent to them.”“””
Nov 07th, 2013 - 12:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0SOP when dealing with Argentina it seems to me.
lol, well who the hell would want to go to Argentina anyway, there's nothing there, flights into London however make for the worlds busiest airport, wonder why that is ?
Nov 07th, 2013 - 12:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So SAA has suspended flights for political reasons according to Argentina. It would be interesting to know what political reasons
Nov 07th, 2013 - 01:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It must be dreadful that Alicia Castro has to use British Airways to fly direct from London to B.A
Nov 07th, 2013 - 01:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0London is a dreadful destination, thus they send the wackiest argies there. Far away from BA, smelly, and horrible weather.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 03:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As for SA, well good news for Argentina. Now we need to cut the routes to Rio and Mexico, and that way no more criminals enter Argentina. Lets remember South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico have a murder rate between 500% and 2000% higher than Argentina.
And then we work on ending flights to Washington DC, Miami, and New York, all cities far more violent than any in Argentina with murder rates of 22 per 100k, 11 per 100k, and 6 per 100k respectively.
End all flight to fourth world hellholes and crappy cities with crappy weather and where you live under video, telephone, internet, and human surveillance 24-7. Argentina does not need flights to such dumps of violence and lack of freedom.
Well, this news is music to my ears: it’s all going swimmingly for TMBOA just as she gets “discharged” from her shopping trip.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 03:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 11 TTtransvestite
As if YOU have ever been there and you have no chance of ever going now!
Keep flying the paper dart and imagining you live in a real country.
@11
Nov 07th, 2013 - 03:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Is that the best you can do? A major international airline drops it's route to the capital of your country because you are utterly insignificant on the world stage and nobody want to go there and nobody can afford to leave there.
Does that not concern you?
@11 - Oh yeah London is such a lousy destination that the UK is ranked mere 8th in the world for top tourist destinations with a tiny 29.3 million international arrivals in 2011 (same in 2012 too) compared to Argentina's (not even in the top 10, or 20 in fact) humongous 5.5million international tourist for the same period.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 03:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For the sake of comparison, Syria in 2011 had 5 million (a 40% drop on 2010 which was 8.5 million) international tourist arrivals and that's been a bloody warzone since march 2011!!
Go ahead end all flights, you'd be doing us a favor by becoming the worlds next reclusive state after North Korea, but i doubt Brazil and the rest of your Neighbors would be prepared to have a north Korea in their backyard and would probably invade your country in order to prevent it!
@11 So Argentina doesn't want any more criminals, they are self-sufficient I take it, but they did have a large 'starter culture' arrive in 1945 from MittelEuropa.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 03:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@10
Nov 07th, 2013 - 03:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If she flies Aerolinas Argentinas she is expected to help out. Wet towels, cleaning the toilets and rubbish collection.
As long ago as the late sixties the Argentines were reluctant to fly Aerolinas Argentina, and I know that for a fact, as I was there then.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 05:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@11 Good idea! Isolationism 101. Hang on, argieland is doing its best to match the murder rates. But, being Indec-like, the figures aren't accurate. With the drop in air travel, Brazilian thieves, rapists and murderers will have to drive across Uruguay to reach argieland. No real problem. What's the difference between Uruguay and argieland? The UK and US will be glad to end all flights from the shithouse of the world. Unless airlines promise to open the doors and shove argies out over the mid-Atlantic from 35,000 feet. The plus side? Baggage can be auctioned. Best thing will be the videos of argies swan-diving!
Nov 07th, 2013 - 05:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0at least the ambassador can ask if its chicken or pasta to the other people, as I doubt theres much money in the government pot after CFK's shopping trip oops sorry illness.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 06:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Perhaps she can fly out on Tango 1, im sure no one would try and impound it, rofl
as for TTP, its funny how he uses Argentine statistics for crime rates, and yet a couple of years ago, whilst in BA, family friends who were putting my wife and mother in law up, told them of the routine shootings and crimes every few minutes in BA itself and not to go out in the dark.
Nice eh.
Mar De Plata was not much different.
I personally did not go, as I have an issue with visiting violent countries, plus did not think there would be anything much to see, except their weird system of government.
id rather save for the falklands
HeHe, well IMO, Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil in fact most parts of South America are shitholes still, makes me laugh that Brasil has the 7/8th biggest economy yet over 60% of people live in abject poverty, 5 star hotels over look slums where children regularly die, now please forgive me if your from any of these nations as its not the people causing the problem its the shithouse governments that run them, I mean how can a nation have such wealth and share it only with the rich and still let children die through poverty in 2013, how can the murder rate be so high, rape so high etc etc etc, ffs use your head your governments are taking the piss, granted we have some shitbags in government here, but I'd go as far and say they're doing ok in comparison to some of these backwards governments, slate and slag off the UK as much as you like, the truth is the UK is an awesome place to live, work & most importantly play; there is NO country in South America worth visiting except for Chile & the Falklands, my idea of a holiday is not a raping, murder & poverty weekend. Quite simply the UK is eons ahead in regards to civilisation, face it South America is pretty much a back water & does not even compare!
Nov 07th, 2013 - 06:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Argentina complains South African Airways decision to cut the Buenos Aires route”
Nov 07th, 2013 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Does this mean that La Campora, has to take a smaller slice of pie?
they won't like that.....oh no they won't
Two friends of mine (both engineers earning a combined estimated annual income of ~A$200,000) flew to BsAs on tickets half the price of Qantas.
Nov 07th, 2013 - 08:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As Nostrils has now admitted to being a taxpayer (dropped out of uni or high school I'm guessing), I thank him on their behalf that his tax dollars are subsidising their holiday at this very moment.
I might use Nostrils tax dollars to fly there on my way to Colombia next year. I could save myself about $800.
SAA should get with the programme and start subsidising rich westerners. At least according to Aerolíneas' logic.
We have been here before,
Nov 07th, 2013 - 08:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sadly CFK must understand that she does not own the world,
South Africa is not part of the imagined argentine empire,
When will she learn, you cannot tell other nations what not to do,
Still,
That’s another imagined victory she has lost, lol .
.
@10
Nov 07th, 2013 - 10:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“It must be dreadful that Alicia Castro has to use British Airways to fly direct from London to B.A”
The same as CFK chartering a Canadian made jet (Canada supports Falkland Islands RTSD) flying for a British company to tour the east -rather than use Tango 1.
But as long as Castro doesn't reminisce of being a trolley dolley and re-enact it during her flights(as British Airways shares would nosedive).
This brings to mind (somehow) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s great novel Vol de nuit (1931) (or Night Flight). The story tells of the final tragic night flight of a pilot flying the nightime postal air service in Patagonia in the 1920’s. A very moving and poetic account too. It is based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s own experiences as an aviation pioneer in Argentina as pilot and director of the Aeroposta Argentina airline.
Nov 08th, 2013 - 12:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s is of course famous for writing the childrens fable Le petit prince (1943) (The Little Prince)
He was killed in 1944 fighting for France.
Anyone looking for a short, moving and inspirational read should give it a go.
Britain: “The number of visits from Argentina rose in 2012 by 27 per cent to 103,500, the highest year-on-year increase from anywhere in the world.”
Nov 08th, 2013 - 04:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/132554/british-media-highlights-argentine-tourists-invasion-to-great-britain
@14
Nov 08th, 2013 - 05:07 am - Link - Report abuse 0Your logic is frightening. So London/UK is next to a continent of 700 million people, and has a “special relationship” with a country of 300 million that's 6 hours away, and can only manage 30 million tourists. Argentina being far away from almost everyone, got 5 mllion (btw, your 8.5 figure of 2010 is an utter concoction of yours).
You should attract 12-15 times as many tourists compared to us, given the population densities and the much shorter travel time (and the fact you have not only access via airplane but train and ship). That's about 72 million.
Yes the UK should be ashamed that it is only the 7th most visited country in the world with a tiny land border with a country of only 4.5 million people.
Nov 08th, 2013 - 08:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0And yet Argentina with 5 land borders and nearly 240 million neighbours can only entice 5.5 million visitors. Hardly “ being far away from almost everyone” especially when 40 million of those neighbours speak the same language.
As for being far away from almost everyone, Australia attracts more visitors than Argentina and has no land borders. And while we aren't even in the top 25 most visited countries, we are in the top 10 when it comes to receipts. Seems people like to spend a lot of money when they visit us.
As for Syria, it would seem that 8.5 million isn't “an utter concoction” after all:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL
You just can't argue at all Nostrils. Never have been able and seemingly incapable of learning to as well.
Aerolineas Argentinas stopped its flights to New Zealand last year using almost identical language to the South Africans in this story. And had the audacity to tell passengers in NZ that service would be improved by flying in the opposite directon to Sydney first to get on an AA plane.
Nov 08th, 2013 - 11:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0@29 LAN to Santiago offers a much better service!
Nov 08th, 2013 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@27
Nov 08th, 2013 - 03:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Toby,
You need to compare apples with apples:
EZE receives total arrivals of 5.5 million (85% of the total for Argentina)
LON receives over 100 million arrivals (less than 50% total for UK).
The 30 million Teaboy refers to are arrivals that traveled specifically for tourism.
@28 & 31
Nov 09th, 2013 - 01:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I love it when Nostrils tries to counter argue and ends up making himself look an even bigger fool lol.
And yes i was only referring to Tourist Arrivals and not total number of arrivals which would have actually included business visitors, Brits returning home and likely stop overs too.
Wow - it seems to me as a reader that most of the comments come from “brain washed” South African people. Do you honnestly think the crime rate and murders and rapes etc etc are higher in South America??? You are absolutely mistaken and dumb! DO NOT COMPARE any South American country with South Africa - fact is - it is far worst in South Africa than in South Americas. Anything you think or commented on - double or triple it and that is the statistics of South Africa. So Argetina - me as South African can assure you - please, you do better without any South African connections (even diplomatics) as it is currently. You don't need this criminal capitol of the world! I know because I live in South America and in South Africa parts of the year. Do not feel even slightly bad about these low IQ comments on this article - this is typical South African....!
Nov 09th, 2013 - 08:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Anti-South African
Huh?
Nov 10th, 2013 - 01:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0South African Airways is making a smart business decision.
Already in front of half of South America.
@29
Nov 10th, 2013 - 01:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“ improved by flying in the opposite directon to Sydney first to get on an AA plane.”
Why? Are the AA aircraft now equipped with ejection seats and sold as a theme park ride?
If the route doesnt give a profit then it will be cut, simple maths! Political ? is he suggesting south africa has an issue with argentina?
Nov 11th, 2013 - 03:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Aerolinas just announced they'd stop flying to Sydney. My guess is they will whittle themselves down to a regional carrier since there is no way for them to afford to buy new long haul planes and the 30y/o ones they are using past their useful life a few years back.
Nov 12th, 2013 - 12:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I just went to Iceland for the weekend to see the Northern Lights. I love Iceland, I go about every other year but this is the 1st time I've been in the winter and I went specifically to see the Lights. Which if you've never seen them are spectacular! Definitely worth the trip to the frigid dark north.
What amazes me is the amount of development this tiny tiny country has achieved. Argentinians need to go there to see what a tiny country, with a terrible climate and little natural resources can accomplish. It really puts them to shame.
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