Air transport in Argentina is affected by the cancellations and rescheduling of flights due to the general strike that is taking place this Wednesday, called by the country’s main union center against the Government of Javier Milei.
The flag company Aerolíneas Argentinas has canceled 295 flights and rescheduled another 26, affecting some 20,000 passengers, who “are going to have a bad day because of this measure,” reported at a press conference at the Casa Rosada (headquarters of the Government). ) Manuel Adorni, presidential spokesman, who said that the strike “is going to be a loss for many sectors.”
For the state airline, it will represent a loss of 2.5 million dollars, which “we will pay among all Argentines, unfortunately,” Adorni highlighted, based on the company’s statement.
The spokesperson took the opportunity to highlight the companies that “do not adhere to the strike” and that, therefore, “promote work and that their employees comply normally,” such as the low-cost firm FlyBondi, since its operation will be, “within the disorder that this strike is generating, as normal as possible.”
Aerolíneas Argentinas – which Milei proposes to privatize, like other public companies – canceled more flights than originally planned because the aeronautical unions extended the measure of force beyond the call of the union headquarters.
The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the main trade union center in the country, called this strike, supported by political parties and social and human rights organizations, from noon to midnight.
But the Aeronautical Personnel Association (APA), which brings together ramp, check-in and call center personnel, began the strike last midnight and, on its social networks, showed images of the adhesion to the strike in the Ministerio Pistarini International Airport, in Ezeiza, and at the Jorge Newbery Airport, in the Argentine capital.
On the other hand, the Association of Flybondi Aeronautical Workers (ATAF) does not support this Wednesday’s strike, because it rejects the force measure that “seeks political objectives, aimed at positioning itself against a government that took office a little over a month ago.” according to his statement.
ATAF understands that the sector that calls for this “extreme measure” is the same one that “for four years remained indifferent to the needs of the workers” – in reference to the government of Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), which ended with a 211, 4% annual inflation and no calls for a general strike – and “now seeks to generate discord at a crucial moment for the country.”
The strike is against the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU), put into effect on December 29 and still under judicial protection in several points, and the bill Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, which this Wednesday obtained the endorsement of the commissions to proceed to the debate in Congress.
With information from EFE
