Argentine pilot denounces deregulation during in-flight announcement
Passengers on Argentina's national airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas, were treated yesterday to an unconventional in-flight announcement by the pilot, who took the opportunity to denounce ongoing airline deregulation by President Mauricio Macri.
The pilot, who was not identified, said in the announcement that: "What concerns us today is that the Ministry of Transportation is promoting an increasingly deregulated aviation in the country, with less oversight, less training for pilots, and less control over maintenance."
He also noted that air routes "are being increasingly opened to foreign firms, thereby affecting our work."
This referred to Macri's push to open the nation's air routes to private, low-cost carriers, which began in 2016 with the purchase of his family's failing charter airline (MacAir) by Colombia's Avianca in exchange for access to local routes.
The move triggered a federal investigation, including a June 7, 2017, raid on the Casa Rosada - the first such incident in the presidential office building's 132-year history.
The case, like numerous other corruption probes against Macri, remains stalled in court.
Flying high
The largest such firm to take advantage of this policy, Flybondi, was granted use of an Air Force base in El Palomar, west of Buenos Aires, by decree on June 26, 2017 - two weeks after the Casa Rosada raid by prosecutors.
Flybondi, established just nine months earlier with no capital and no planes, has quickly grown to become the nation's third-largest airline. It's officially owned by a French expat named Richard Gluzman, a business partner of Macri's chief domestic policy adviser, Mario Quintana.
But in just seven months of operations Flybondi has already had numerous safety incidents, including emergency landings due to overheating motors and detached parts. A number of other takeoffs have been cancelled outright without explanation, leaving passengers stranded.
Its record thus far, as well as Macri's deregulatory push, has drawn comparisons to the 1990s, when similar policies led to an unprecedented number of safety incidents as well as the two deadliest air travel incidents in Argentine history: the 1997 Austral Airlines crash, which killed 74; and the 1999 LAPA crash, which killed 65.
Both airlines were private; LAPA ceased operations, and Austral was nationalized in 2008.
Pablo Biró of the Airline Pilots Association (APLA) is concerned it could happen again. "That airline has $6,000 in declared capital, two old planes (12 and 17 years), and a rusty old workshop not fit to repair cars," he said.
"But no one will stop this, until there's a catastrophe."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pagina12.com.ar%2F128473-su-atencion-por-favor
A Flybondi aircraft being towed from the runway by baggage trucks on July 5 - one of several safety incidents since the low-cost start-up, linked to a close Macri adviser, began operations just seven months ago.
