MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falkland Islands second air link announcement expected after June 13th
“Barry Rowland, FIG Chief Executive said leading experts had been commissioned because “our primary aim is to ensure the right outcome for the Falkland Islands” 
“I certainly intend to be among the first passengers,” Johnson said following the announcement from his Argentine counterpart Jorge Faurie in Buenos Aires 
LATAM operates the only commercial flight to the Falklands from South America, once a week from Chile. Once a month the flight stops in Rio Gallegos, Argentina. The Falkland Islands government announced on Wednesday it has received an evaluation report regarding a second weekly air link to the Falklands, from specialist consulting Aviation Economics, and will be briefing the Executive Council at their 13 June meeting, and recommending a response to the proposed options.
Under the heading “Evaluation report for second air link received by Falkland Islands Government”, the release states the following:
“Following a formal procurement process, the Falkland Islands Government has now received an evaluation report from specialist consultancy Aviation Economics, which sets out the responses from a number of airline operators interested in providing a second weekly air link to the Falkland Islands.
”This report follows a rigorous assessment process whereby each proposal was examined in detail. Members of the Legislative Assembly will shortly be briefed on the contents. Following this, a briefing will be prepared for the Executive Council meeting on 13 June, recommending the Government’s response to the proposed options, along with the next steps.
“For obvious reasons, this work remains confidential at this stage. The outcome of this exercise will be shared with the public following the ExCo decision on 13 June.
”Barry Rowland, Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands Government, said: “Our primary aim is to ensure the right outcome for the Falkland Islands. We commissioned leading experts within the field of aviation to conduct a rigorous commercial exercise, carried out to the highest possible standards.”
The release follows the three-day visit of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to Argentina, where his counterpart Jorge Faurie said the two countries were analyzing five South American airlines’ proposals for a second flight to the Falkland Islands with a stopover in Argentina
Two of the carriers are based in Chile, two in Brazil and one in Uruguay, Faurie said in a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, without naming them.
LATAM Airlines operates the only flight to the Falkland Islands from South America, once a week from Chile. Once a month the flight stops in Rio Gallegos, Argentina.
A decision on the new flights will be made in coming months, Faurie said.
“I certainly intend to be among the first passengers,” Johnson said following the announcement.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
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Read all commentsThe Falkland islands are not a part of South America never was and never will be. We happen to live in close proximity that is all. Argentina would like to think they have absolute sovereignty rights and they do not. We are British and wish to remain a part of the British system.
May 24th, 2018 - 10:40 am +5The only reason today that Argentina is putting further pressure on us to let them share this second flight is because they want what we have . Not the land we live on but the wealth that surrounds us. They know that we are worth Hundreds of billions of Pounds in what we have . Oil and Fish and they will never stop putting pressure on us until either these products dry up or they get fed up with making their ilegal claim and we the Falkland islanders know that they will never do that.
Falkland Islanders were betrayed by Britain in the seventies giving the wrong impression that we would like better relations with these dictators. We do not and the result was an unnecessary conflict resulting in loss of life.
This new and second flight is not fully supported by all Islanders because unless Argentina drop their claim and recognise us as a people we will never trust them and any FCO officer would be wise to recognise the dangers they are leading us into once again by getting into bed with Argentina knowing that their ultimate end game is to steal our homeland.
teaberry- Never mind the economics and prices -the ONLY politically “safe” airlines and routes are Latam from Santiago or DAP from Punta Arenas.
May 24th, 2018 - 01:13 pm +3Any route or airline from Brazil- or the charter airline from Uruguay will end up subject to a strong financial offer from Argentina to route-after a while - once a month
via Buenos Aires and then a while later - every week via Buenos Aires.
Never forget- despite the current overtures of more peace and sensible economic bilateral co-operation etc from Argentina- The Argentine OBJECTIVE is unchanged since before- and during 1982 and regardless of which Governemnt in power - to take over our homeland and our homes- full stop-end of.
So any future airlink that passes anywhere near Buenos Aires is susceptible to Argentine long term objectives.
Economically there is NO real case for 2 flights a week all year round without a big annual subsidy from FIG. Possibly a direct Latam Santiago-MPA-Santiago flight with a monthly stop over in Neuquen(under flight path anyway and covered by 1999 Agreement) would thus attract long haul passengers with direct international connections over a year or so and then move away from a subsidy.
DAP from Punta could perhaps operate with no or very little subsidy as they have a range of aircraft from 10-120 seats to fit the demand, thus freeing up the existing Latam flight for the long hail market.
Any other route will most likely bring the Arg Flag over Govt House within 10 years.
Just because we are close to south America does not constitute that we are a part of it. That is only suggested by Argentina. Take a look around the world BrianFI and see how many other territories are near another continent but not a part of it.We are a British dependent territory not an Argentine one dope.
May 25th, 2018 - 04:01 pm +2Commenting for this story is now closed.
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