Argentine airline pilots announce strike against deregulation — MercoPress

Argentine airline pilots announce strike against deregulation

The measure was announced shortly before the winter break.

The pilots of an Argentine airline have announced a strike for Friday, the last working day before the winter holidays and the judicial recess, to protest against the decision of the government of President Javier Milei to open the industry to foreign operators through deregulation.

According to media reports from Buenos Aires, the pilots’ union APLA also wants to demand a salary increase to take inflation into account.

The new guidelines provide for the digitization of check-in and other processes to optimize costs, as well as faster mechanisms for allocating routes to airlines and deregulation of apron services at airports.

“This will provide better connections to intermediate cities in the interior of the country that currently do not have direct flights,” argued the Ministry of Transport.

“The ultimate goal of the reform package is for the country to have better connections, more frequencies and new airlines. This will lead to increased tourism in the Argentine provinces, with more competitive fares, so more people can fly,” it said.

“The regulations governing the Argentine aviation sector have not been updated for over 70 years,” and “an update is necessary to transform transport, aerial work and civil aviation,” the agency added.

Argentina recently signed open skies agreements with Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Uruguay, as well as with Panama and Canada. “More countries will join in the coming months,” the ministry stressed.

If no agreement is reached with the authorities, the strike will be extended to the first week of the winter holidays, warned the union, which mainly includes the pilots of Aerolíneas Argentinas.