MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine pilots want to launch nationwide strike

Pilots are against President Javier Milei's decree changing their work conditions

Argentina's Airline Pilots Association (APLA) has called for a nationwide strike to protest President Javier Milei's decree 378/2025, which alters working conditions for flight crews.

“We are free to call a national pilots' strike that will affect all services,” said the union, adding: “We urge the national government to repeal this incoherent and unsustainable decree, which lacks technical soundness and seriously jeopardizes operational safety, holding it personally, civilly, and criminally responsible for the consequences of its application.”

The decree increases maximum daily flight hours from 8 to 10 and annual flight hours from 800 to 1,000. It also reduces weekly rest periods from 36 hours to 30.

In response, the government has convened a new technical working group that includes APLA representatives, airlines, and civil aviation authorities in the hopes that dialogue will resolve the conflict and avert the strike.

Meanwhile, the Association of Air Navigation Protection and Security Technicians and Employees (ATEPSA) - Argentina's air traffic controllers' union - has announced a series of five strikes after negotiations with the government led nowhere.

The strikes will take place on Aug. 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30, with interruptions scheduled from 1 pm to 4 pm and from 7 pm to 10 pm, during which time, controllers will prevent takeoffs but will allow landings.

The union, whose members work at all 54 airports in the country, warned the government of its “personal, civil, and criminal” responsibility for not addressing their demands. The National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) is continuing to work with airlines and other stakeholders to mitigate the impact of the strikes on air travel.