Milei: Aerolíneas Argentinas could be handed over to employees if not sold

President Javier Milei says that there are several potential buyers of flagship carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas, reiterating his desire to privatise the state airline.

“We still have several proposals to privatise,” revealed the La Libertad Avanza leader in an interview with the LN+ television channel.

Despite that, Milei insisted he was open to the idea of turning it over to Aerolíneas’ employees if no deal could be agreed.

“If it is not possible, we are willing to hand it over to the employees,” he said.

The problem, according to the President, is that the workers “don't want it.”

Milei recalled he had submitted a “privatisation programme” to Congress with the aim of significantly reducing Argentina’s number of state-owned companies.

“We sent a programme to privatise about 50 companies, but Congress, in this Republican game, limited us to only 11,” he said, referring to his sweeping ‘Ley de Bases’ mega-reform bill that was slashed in half in order to secure its passage through the Legislature.

Milei confirmed that Aerolíneas Argentinas had been removed from the list in order to smoothe negotiations, but that privatisation remained the end goal.

In the meantime, he added, staffing numbers had been slashed at the flagship carrier.

“We made a staff reduction of 1,500 people. Not only that, but we also managed to balance Aerolíneas‘ accounts,” said Milei, underlining his administration's efforts to clean up the airline's dire financial situation.

“There was no other alternative,” he added.

Created in 1950 after the merger of four companies, the future of Aerolíneas Argentinas remains uncertain – it could still be privatised or declared bankruptcy if its losses continue to mount. 

Earlier this month, Milei issued a decree – co-signed by Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos and Economy Minister Luis Caputo – that declared the state firm to be “subject to privatisation.”

Flying to more than 30 destinations nationwide, the airline is the only one that connects all of Argentina’s 23 provinces with Buenos Aires City. 

– TIMES/NA