Through decree 112/2023 published on Tuesday in the Official Gazette, the Argentine government has officially withdrawn LATAM Brazil’s (under the name TAM Linhas Aéreas) permission to operate the route linking Sao Paulo to the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) with a stopover in Cordoba.
This measure comes in the context of the end of the Foradori-Duncan pact that the UK and Argentina had signed in 2016, which granted concessions for the exploitation of natural resources in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and facilitated air connections with third countries.
«At present, the priority of the National Executive Power regarding the national policy of air connection with the Malvinas Islands (Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands – Argentine Republic) is the resumption of direct scheduled flights from the Argentine mainland,» the decree states, adding that the 602/19 decree that granted the permit to LATAM Brazil specified that air services «would be kept under review«.
Sao Paulo – Cordoba – Malvinas flights
LATAM inaugurated flights between São Paulo and the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) on November 20, 2019, with a weekly frequency on Wednesdays on Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. On the second Wednesday of each month the flight made a stopover in Cordoba on the outbound leg to the Falklands (Islas Malvinas), and on the third Wednesday the stopover was on the return leg to São Paulo.
On this route, LATAM Brazil obtained traffic rights between Cordoba and Mt. Pleasant through an official resolution in which it was pointed out that it is a cabotage route, given that for Argentina the Islands are Argentine territory.
That is why, at 2,325 kilometres, the route between Cordoba and Mount Pleasant was the third longest linking two points in Argentina, after Cordoba – Ushuaia (2,625 km) and Buenos Aires – Ushuaia (2,381 km).
With the outbreak of the pandemic and the restrictions on the movement of people adopted by the governments, flights between Sao Paulo, Cordoba and the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) were suspended, and although they were scheduled to return on several occasions, they never materialised.
Flights to the Falklands (Islas Malvinas)
Without Sao Paulo, the only regular route that the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) have with the American continent is the one that LATAM flies between Punta Arenas and Mt Pleasant, which was resumed on July 2 last year.
Following the guidelines of the agreements signed between Great Britain and Argentina in 1999, one Saturday a month the flight makes a stopover in Rio Gallegos.
