The Transportation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation has called for a joint meeting with the Budget and Finance Committee for next Wednesday, September 25 at 11:00, where they will begin the study of two bills concerning the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas.
The president of the state company, Fabián Lombardo; Franco Mogetta, Secretary of Transportation; and José Rolandi, Deputy Chief of the Executive Cabinet, have been invited to the meeting.
On one hand, there is file 5401-D-2024, promoted by Deputy Juan Manuel López from the Civic Coalition (Buenos Aires province), accompanied by deputies Maximiliano Ferraro (CC – CABA), Paula Oliveto Lago (CC – CABA), Victoria Borrego (CC – CABA), and Marcela Campagnoli (CC – Buenos Aires), which contains more arguments and data supporting the request to declare Aerolíneas Argentinas subject to privatization. The conclusion is that “sovereignty is exercised through state regulation, which should promote competition, employment, and tax revenue, and the origin of the airlines under that control should not interfere with national strategic objectives, but rather contribute to them.”
In contrast, file 5030-D-2024, led by Deputy Hernán Lombardi (with the signature of 14 others), falls into more common arguments among those supporting the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas, such as “flying with the national airline has become a privilege reserved for a few, funded by those who barely manage to cover their basic needs,” or that “years of corruption, using the company as a niche to accommodate partisan militancy, and extortion by some unions have cost all Argentinians millions of dollars.”
The introduction of these two files brings the issue of privatizing Aerolíneas Argentinas back to the legislative agenda after it had been excluded from those subject to privatization, as part of an agreement reached by Javier Milei’s government with opposition deputies to secure the approval of the “Bases Law” in June, which is the backbone of his government project (along with DNU 70/2023).
This happens while the conflict with the aviation unions representing workers of Aerolíneas Argentinas and Intercargo continues to escalate, due to both salary delays (which they claim have reached 80%) and the intention to renegotiate collective agreements to make the companies more attractive to potential investors.
At the same time, Javier Milei’s government continues with its policy of opening the air transport market, which this Monday added a mandate to the National Civil Aviation Administration to regulate within 60 days the authorization for foreign crews to operate in Argentine companies.
See also: Argentina: ANAC has 60 days to regulate the entry of foreign pilots and crews
