The Falkland Islands government announcement that it has chosen Latam as preferred operator to provide a second commercial flight between the Islands and the continent, with a stopover once a month in Argentina, did not come without a reaction from the Argentine government.
The Chilean/Brazilian Latam airline has been chosen by the Falkland Islands Government as the preferred operator to provide a second commercial flight between the Falkland Islands and South America. The official announcement was made on Thursday, 26 July.
The biggest barriers to business growth in the Falkland Islands are the air link to Chile and telecommunications bandwidth (speed and quality) according to the Falkland Islands Development Corporation Business Climate Survey. In the survey to which 106 businesses responded (a 42% response rate) 30.86% selected those options.
The Falkland Islands Executive Council agreed on Wednesday to appoint a preferred airline operator to provide the second midweek flight between the Falkland Islands and South America.
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.
The Director of Aviation at Aviation Economics Joanna Hunt commenting on the progress of a second commercial air-link to the Falkland Islands has confirmed there has been interest from airlines.
The following was published in the Penguin News, “Your Letters” section in response to the Falklands government last week’s release titled “Progress made towards establishing a second commercial Falkland Islands air link”
The United Kingdom and Argentina, following on the September 2016 joint communiqué to establish additional air links with the Falkland Islands, jointly announced on Friday that third country airlines interested in such operations will be contacted. It is expected that by the end of February the commercial process will be initiated, led by the Falkland Islands, and sometime next October the new weekly air link, with a monthly call in Argentina, will become operational.
Pope Francis celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding on Thursday, marrying two flight attendants from Chile’s flagship airline at 36,000 feet during a flight from Santiago.
LATAM launched on 5 October non-stop flights between Melbourne and Santiago. The route will offer the only direct connection between Melbourne and Latin America and see three flights per week on a Boeing 787-9.