BUENOS AIRES – The government of the Argentine President Javier Milei published this Wednesday a decree what deregulates the commercial aviation sector by promoting the entry of competitors and freeing up tariffs, which would affect the dominant position of the state-owned company Argentinian airlines in the market
The decree published in the Official Gazette provides for the access of new route operators through short and agile administrative procedures, the encouragement of competition between operators and freedom in setting prices, leaving aside a scheme of minimum and maximum rates.
He Argentine air marketdominated by Aerolíneas Argentinas, has few low-cost companies with competitive fares, including Flybondi and JetSmart.
The new regulations implemented within the framework of the “open skies” policy and reforming the aeronautical code, regulate cooperation agreements between companies to share flight schedules, routes, resources and connections.
Turismo
“The ultimate goal is for the country to have greater connectivity, more frequencies and new airlines. This will generate a greater flow of tourism in the Argentine provinces, with more competitive rates,” the government said in a statement, in which it stressed that “the regulations governing the Argentine air sector have not been renewed for more than 70 years.”
The new legislation is part of the package of reforms that the Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, announced days ago.
Milei’s government has been developing bilateral agreements that promote the opening of skies with Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Panama and Canada, to which more countries will join in the coming months.
The decree allows access to routes without the need for public hearings and enables the immediate granting of the requested frequencies. It also instructs authorities to avoid “any monopolistic conduct” by an airline, airport or ramp service operator, or any other provider of the air transport system.
The measure, which removes Aerolíneas Argentinas’ exclusivity over certain routes and frequencies, was questioned by Pablo Biró, general secretary of the Association of Airline Pilots (APLA). The union leader said that “the government is absolutely throwing away all of our sovereignty” and that “security is among the risks.”
Biró pointed out that “this is a total deregulation of the commercial air system” that “does not work anywhere in the world and in the places where it was implemented it left countries disconnected and at the mercy of speculation… Fares are deregulated in order to lower fares, make you go bankrupt and then after they succeed they raise them,” according to his judgment.
Source: With information from AP