Argentina's flag carrier Aerolineas Argentinas amd Boeing have completed an agreement for 20 Next-Generation 737-800 airplanes, an operation valued at 1.8 billion dollars (list price) which is seen as an effort by the Argentine government to modernize its fleet and increase passenger satisfaction.
Argentina’s flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas will have this year an operational deficit of 250 million dollars, approximately 12% of sales, but a sharp decrease from the 640 million loss last year, said CEO Mariano Recalde addressing Senate Budget, Finance, Infrastructure, Housing and Transport committees.
Chilean Foreign minister Alfredo Moreno said that flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentina can access the Chilean domestic market whenever they wish, discarding any impediments or veto to such an option.
Argentine officials publicly stated on Thursday there was no intention of expelling any commercial airline from the country because Aerolineas Argentinas is working well, but called on Latam to help the Argentine flag carrier with reciprocity in Chile and Brazil.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez got involved in the Lan Chile hangar conflict at the Buenos Aires metropolitan air terminal by praising the performance of re-nationalized Aerolíneas Argentinas and claiming that while foreign carriers can exploit the Argentine domestic market, “there is no reciprocity from other countries”.
Lan Chile went to court in Argentina on Monday to appeal its eviction from a hangar at the metropolitan Buenos Aires Aeroparque airport, which is a crucial element of its national and regional operations. Several unions have anticipated that if the eviction is not stopped they will go on strike and interrupt domestic flights.
Argentina’s state-run airline and flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas announced this week it will resume its direct flights to New York that were terminated five years ago. On December 15, the company will be offering a daily flight from Ezeiza airport to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.
An Argentine radical group involved in actions against cruise vessels and maritime traffic with the Falkland Islands has promised a similar campaign against Lan Chile offices in Buenos Aires, the airline which flies the only link of the Islands with the continent.
Brazil’ aircraft manufacturer Embrear is again resurfacing suspicions regarding the sale of commercial planes to Aerolineas Argentinas involving several million dollars in surcharges. The company informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, that it is investigating companies from five different countries to which it sold aircraft allegedly in transactions suspicious of irregularities.
Falkland Islands lawmaker Sharon Halford rejected the Argentine proposal of direct flights from Buenos Aires to the Islands saying that “they are not needed” and expressed surprise at the double standard of President Cristina Fernandez administration.