The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, announced today that lThe province intends to absorb the shares of the company Aerolíneas Argentinas in the event that the national administration wishes to “transfer it, sell it, liquidate it or close it” with the objective of “avoiding its dismantling.”
“The national government says that no one wants Aerolíneas Argentinas: it is a lie, the province of Buenos Aires does want it and, in the event that they finally decide to transfer it, it expresses its vocation to begin the path of dialogue with the workers and governors of other provinces and to take all the institutional steps that are necessary to sustain it”he stated this Monday in a press conference that he led at the Government House, in La Plata, accompanied by the vice-governor Verónica Magario, and the ministers of Government, Carlos Bianco, and of Development, Andrés Larroque.
Pablo Ceriani (former head of Aerolíneas Argentinas) and the general secretaries of the aeronautical unions Edgardo Llanos (APA), Juan Pablo Brey (AAA), Rubén Fernández (UPSA) and Mateo Ferreria (APLA) also participated.
In his message, the president stressed that “the government of Javier Milei insists on the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas. We find it deplorable and tragic that it is moving towards privatization. It is not new: it has already been privatized and led to scrapping and liquidation, loss of routes and closure of destinations. “It was a disaster.”
“Last year, Aerolíneas Argentinas did not receive assistance from the national government. There is no deficit or it is minor. This is an attempt to loot Aerolíneas Argentinas. When it was privatized, it stopped flying to unprofitable destinations and left half of Argentina without connection. That’s the idea, they want to sell it to make a deal and a scam,” he described.
The numbers of Aerolíneas Argentinas
The Province estimates, based on calculations made with parameters established by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), that Aerolíneas Argentina not only “ensures connectivity” but also “generates revenues of more than US$2.5 billion”.
According to these estimates, the Gross Airport Product for the area of influence of the province of Buenos Aires amounts to US$647 million. The impact of domestic inbound tourism amounts to $1,092 million and the impact of international inbound tourism amounts to $638 million.
At the same time, the socio-economic impact was calculated, estimating the value perceived by the passenger above the cost of the ticket actually paid and this meant some US$288 million.
Thus, based on official calculations, “the total impact of Aerolíneas Argentinas in the province amounts to US$2,665 million”said the governor and highlighted that, in addition, An eventual closure of the company “would affect 80,935 direct and indirect jobs and would seriously compromise more than 10 million passengers”.
“Aerolíneas Argentinas does not sell and neither does the country. They invent an airline failure to cause mischief. We are going to carry out actions and meetings. The resources for what to do are in the national government. There is the idea of bankrupting it, dissolving it or passing it on to the workers. We are waiting, but preparing for a decision that must be resolved by the national government. The province explores mechanisms to provide responses. We are not in a position for this government to destroy Airlines. We cannot go through again, an emptying and scam like the one we already experienced with Airlines,” the governor said.
He maintained that his administration is “waiting for them to decide to manage Airlines in favor of the people or prevent the disaster they want to make,” he noted that “the province has different paths” and clarified that some of them “need laws of the Legislature”.
In that sense, Ceriani, former president of Aerolíneas Argentinas and current manager of AUBASA, explained that “the governor’s intention is to defend a public service that is very important for the country and for the province of Buenos Aires” and added: “There is a proposal of the National Government to privatize or liquidate it. So, from the province we make ourselves available to look for alternatives and avoid any of those situations that would be detrimental to air transport.“.
““It is a company that is absolutely sustainable, that does not have large debts and that has the potential to be able to generate an absolutely sustainable business plan, preserve and develop the public service and more services.”He highlighted and analyzed that the company’s fleet “is operational and active, which means it has a lot to give.”
In this context, he stressed that although Aerolíneas Argentinas “presents negative net worth, the way to evaluate a company is not only by its net worth, but by the potential it has, the expectations and the business plan.”
The legal path
Sources from the Executive Branch specified that DNU 70 of President Javier Milei and article 4 of the Bases law enabled the possibility of transferring one hundred percent of the share capital of Aerolíneas Argentinas – which is a public limited company – to the workers. through a shared ownership programas well as the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires, through an agreement.
In this way, they explained that if the national Executive Branch wishes to get rid of the shares, they could be transferred to the workers, to the provinces or to both. “This should occur with authorization from the Legislature,” they clarified.
Regarding the procedure, Ceriani highlighted that there are “different possible paths” to absorb the Aerolíneas share package but clarified that everything will depend on the path that the national government wants to choose” and He acknowledged that there are conversations “both the northern governors and the Patagonian governors”.
“It will be a matter of sitting down to raise the issue and see together with the governors the different possible solutions and alternative ways to be able to continue providing the public service,” the official concluded and emphasized that the Law Bases ““provides for mechanisms to transfer shares from public companies to the provinces.”
Source: Ambito
