MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falkland Islands and Brazil: Agreement reached for historic commercial flight
Interim arrangements will be in place to accommodate this new flight at Mount Pleasant International Airport in November 
MLA Barry Elsby said it was no secret of the Falklands determination to build better air links between the Islands and the rest of the world An agreement has been finalised with LATAM Airlines Brazil to introduce a second international commercial air link to the Falkland Islands with a weekly service from São Paulo/Guarulhos (with a monthly stop in Cordoba, Argentina), complementing the existing weekly flight to Santiago, Chile.
This significant achievement comes following the successful conclusion of a formal commercial process which identified LATAM as the preferred operator last year.
LATAM is Latin America´s leading airline group, serving over 140 destinations in 27 countries worldwide. The new route will allow passengers to make onward connections to multiple destinations in South and North America and Europe, and once a month it will transit in both directions via Cordoba in Argentina.
The inaugural flight has been scheduled for Wednesday 6 November 2019 with further details regarding ticket sales and itinerary to be communicated in the coming weeks.
The process of establishing the flight has followed the principles set out in the 14 July 1999 Joint Statement and Exchange of Letters, later supported through the signing of the 2016 Joint Communiqué, between Britain and Argentina where it was agreed to make further progress in establishing additional air links between the Falkland Islands and third party countries.
The Government is working in partnership with the Ministry of Defence to ensure that interim arrangements will be in place to accommodate this new flight at Mount Pleasant International Airport in November. Plans for a new permanent terminal development are being progressed.
Speaking of this historic event, MLA Barry Elsby, Portfolio Lead said: “We have made no secret of our determination to build better air links between the Falkland Islands and the rest of the world, and I am certain that this latest development will be successful.
“This new flight, together with our plans for a new port and air terminal, will support long term economic growth in the islands and will result in significant growth for our tourist industry in particular.”
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
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Read all commentsKelper- The awkward reality is that Argentina does indeed have control power over where our Int flights come from as no S.American country or Airline would want to upset them- we are economically and numerically insignificant. And sadly the economics for us of a longhaul link direct to another continent just do not stack up- yet-one they might.
Jul 06th, 2019 - 04:51 pm +2But spot on- we need to keep eyes open as who knows in say 5yrs-10yrs time what pressure Arg might apply to a commercial airline get the route changed - and the economic price to us if we refuse and loose the link- against the political and inevitable sovereignty loss if we ended up with the flight coming from Buenos Aires instead.
So I reluctantly support it(wrong route politically long term and was “fixed” on us by FCO crafty rewording of the original offer that went out) but its what we are going to get - and we need a 2nd flight- but will be 100% aware of what we might end up facing down the line!
Yes we do want better links with the rest of the world BUT not having yo have the approval of Argentina who is trying everything to control our external progress.
Jul 06th, 2019 - 03:53 pm +1Remember their end game is to steal my homeland.
MLA Elsby may be looking smug right now but will he be so excited when the pressure starts yo mount for even more integration with Argentina.
Argentina has total control over the airspace we need to use to access Latin America and if they decide to change the rules there is nothing we can do about it.
Contrary to MLA elsby's belief this is just another goot in the foor for Argentina. I hope I am proved wrong but somehow I don't think so.
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