MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands second air link: Charter flights could make a second flight a non-issue
The recent statement entitled ‘Progress made towards establishing a second commercial Falkland Islands air link’ released by the Falkland Islands Government and sponsored by the governments of UK and Argentina, has met with a mixed reception in the Islands. While some have expressed favor others have reservations and questions. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesThats the way to go. If any Argies ring up you can say 'sorry full up! ' Get an Islands 737 and do your own charters starting from Mt Pleasant to everywhere but Argieland. Have a word with O'leary or Branston.
Mar 05th, 2018 - 08:42 am - Link - Report abuse +1Charter flights? But would President Macri have the cojones to overturn that which President Nestor Kirchner overturned in 2003?
Mar 05th, 2018 - 09:45 am - Link - Report abuse +2'I do not support any negotiations regarding a second commercial flight from South America to the Falkland Islands that is used as a political tool by any country.' Quite right.
Mar 05th, 2018 - 09:48 am - Link - Report abuse +1A change in attitude is needed from Argentina.
Argentine Foreign Minister Malcorra said that historically the Argentine position was not to acknowledge for this case in particular the “self determination of peoples”, because 'kelpers' (Falkland Islanders) are a transplanted population, not aborigine (MercoPress 10 Nov 2016)..
Falklands – Implanted Population:
https://www.academia.edu/30505159/Falklands_Implanted_Population
Charter flights do seem like a much more sensible solution, since they only happen if and when there is enough demand. I wonder why they didn't try to negotiate for them with Macri, instead of asking for a second weekly flight?
Mar 05th, 2018 - 06:55 pm - Link - Report abuse -1If Argentina complied with its international obligations then it doesn't actually have the power to ban any scheduled flights through its airspace. Those agreements do not cover charter flights however. By accepting a scheduled flight, Macri can tell the Argentine people that he is acting within the agreements that previous governments have signed.
Mar 05th, 2018 - 11:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh right, that makes sense. And what a shock that Argentina doesn't comply with its international obligations.
Mar 06th, 2018 - 11:20 am - Link - Report abuse +1I assume charter flights from Argentina would NOT be acceptable to anyone in the Falklands. But surely flights could come from Brazil and possibly Uruguay without having to pass through Argentine airspace?
I should think so, although I gather that flights rarely take a straight route. Also I suspect that air traffic control arrangements exceed territorial airspace. There is also the safety aspect, in that a plane needs to be able to divert in any case of problems and that permission has previously been withheld by Argentina.
Mar 06th, 2018 - 01:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0On top of all that, and for purely political reasons - all being members of Mercosur - I doubt that Brazil or Uruguay would wish to start an argument with Argentina over the Islands. There would be nothing in it for them.
Surely a country can't withhold permission for a flight to divert in an emergency? The passengers could die if they did.
Mar 06th, 2018 - 04:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But it makes sense for the Mercosur countries to keep a good relationship with their neighbours; Brazil exports a lot more to Argentina than to the UK and no doubt Uruguay is even more dependent on them.
It's interesting that Brazil let all those RAF planes land though, it seems they don't take Argentina's demands all that seriously.
“ transplanted population, not aborigine ”
Mar 06th, 2018 - 10:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Therefore, we are a transplanted population from Spain and Italy and should return the Argentina to the original peoples.
I wish you overcome this one day!
DT - Argentina has, so I'm told, stated that general permission will not be granted but that individual cases can be considered. It's enough to make airlines nervous.
Mar 06th, 2018 - 11:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Along with Brazil, Uruguay and Chile also do not take Argentina's demands too seriously. What they say, and what they do, are usually very different things. Hence, there is already a lot of interaction between the islands and Uruguay/Chile.
Mmmm. I guess they do enough to keep Argentina mostly happy, and are more or less ideologically aligned depending on which government is in power. It is a big favour Argentina is asking of them though, to make a greater or lesser sacrifice for something that won't benefit them in any way, and could potentially strain relations with Britain as well.
Mar 07th, 2018 - 12:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0England will return the Malvinas within 25 years.
Mar 10th, 2018 - 05:48 am - Link - Report abuse -1Clem - wrong again!
Mar 10th, 2018 - 04:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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