Aviation workers launched a strike on Friday in demand of improved pay, forcing the suspension of 183 flights and affecting more than 15,600 passengers.
Travellers at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery and Ezeiza International Airport had to make alternative arrangements as pilots, crew and other aviation staff who work for state carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas walked off the job.
“The measures announced will affect some 150 flights and over 15,000 passengers,” said the company in a press release.
The strike began at 5am local time and ran until 2pm in the afternoon. No Aerolíneas planes took off during those hours, though flights on their way to Buenos Aires did land.
Some domestic flights were cancelled, while international journeys were reprogrammed to run from 4pm onwards.
Low-cost operators Flybondi and Jetsmart, as well as international carriers, generally operated as normal.
At Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in the capital, passengers congregated around the terminal in large numbers as the strike kicked in early morning, though numbers soon thinned out as they learnt of the industrial action.
The government has criticised striking workers, accusing them of
Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni, said on Thursday that the strike action was “completely illogical,” adding that workers who walked off the job would be docked pay.
Aviation unions have been staging strikes for weeks now in demand of salary increases, with wildcat worker assemblies forcing flights to be rescheduled.
On Wednesday, President Javier Milei’s government announced that it had reduced the workforce of Aerolíneas Argentinas by 13 percent in the last six months, losing 1,500 employees, mostly through voluntary redundancy or retirement schemes.
Friday’s strike was called by two unions, the Asociación de Pilotos de Líneas Aéreas (APLA) and the Asociación Argentina de Aeronavegantes (AAA).
In a press release, the pilots and navigators unions demanded a “serious business proposal” from the government “in keeping” with “demands of salary recomposition.”
Aerolíneas Argentinas boss Fabián Lombardo denounced Friday’s “extortionate and illogical strike” and said the company would not give in to extortion.
“It’s a decidedly extortionate strike at the very least, which to us has no logic because at no time have conversations been closed for them to take such a measure. They’re harming the company, its passengers, and that is not the path we’re looking for.” said Lombardo on Friday morning in a radio interview.
He confirmed that President Milei still intends to privatise the loss-making state airline.
The “:mandate is to move forward towards cleaning up this company to make it attractive for capital investment and its privatisation – something which for now is outside what has been approved by Congress,” said Lombardo.
“In the meantime we have to get this company to stop losing money and to make it efficient,” he added.
– TIMES/NA/AFP
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