MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Biró sacked from Aerolíneas Argentinas Board

Biró's actions caused significant damage to the company, it was argued

Aerolíneas Argentinas Wednesday dismissed APLA pilots union leader Pablo Biró from its board of directors given the alleged incompatibility of the two functions, it was reported in Buenos Aires. “His actions are detrimental to the company,” a shareholders assembly found. In response, Biró said he would appeal the measure before the courts.

“At the request of the main shareholder of Aerolíneas Argentinas, the national government, the members of the shareholders' meeting voted in favor of the expulsion of Pablo Biró from the Board of Directors of the company for having acted disloyally and against the interests of the company he represents,” Aerolíneas Argentinas said in a statement.

”Pablo Biró, in his dual role as leader of the APLA union (pilots), and as director of the company for the class B shares of the Participated Ownership Program, has behaved in recent months in a manner contrary to that expected of a member of the Board of Directors of Aerolíneas Argentinas,“ they pointed out.

”This year alone, Biró participated and promoted 13 measures of force against the airline,“ the flag carrier went on while highlighting that the so-called ”informative assemblies“ were de facto strikes.

”As an aggravating factor, and in the face of the company's efforts to mitigate the impact of these actions on the travel plans of its passengers, the measures were adopted by the unions to cause the greatest possible damage to the operation, running the schedules of the protests to affect as many flights as possible,“ the company also mentioned.

”Biró caused delays and cancellations of flights that affected more than 100 thousand passengers, causing millions of dollars in losses to the company“ by ”attacking the confidence of its customers and causing a fall in its institutional and commercial image,” it was also explained.

The move targeting Biró has also been seen as a prelude to the Libertarian Government's decision to privatize the company. Argentina's Security Ministry also filed a criminal complaint against Biró last month for alleged extortive threats.