CONVERSATIONS with LATAM are still ongoing regarding the resumption of the weekly Falkland Islands/ Brazil flight.
MLA Mark Pollard confirmed that the issues with restarting the route involved the availability of jets, “ideally we would just start up the service as it was, which would be a wide body jet, direct from Sao Paulo to the Falklands stopping in Cordoba once a month there and once a month on the way back.
“The issues we have at the moment are the fact that there aren’t any wide body jets available for some time.”
A wide body jet would allow the option to offer both business and economy class seating. However MLA Pollard said the team at Development and Commercial Services (DCS) are looking at alternatives such as dealing with a narrow body jet, similar to the one that services the Punta Arenas route, and moving to a wide body jet when one becomes available.
The resumption of this second airlink to South America was agreed as part of a new cooperation agreement with Argentina which included other aspects such as a next of kin visit and fisheries cooperation.
MLA Pollard went on to say, “it’s been really hard trying to get the permission back from Argentina, get the agreement in place and work together with the UK Government to get all these things in place. I’d hate to see it all fall down because we can’t physically find an aircraft.”
Not wanting to put a time scale to how long this work will take, MLA Pollard stated, “DCS are working hard trying to speak to LATAM and understand exactly what we can do.”
Globally there are supply issues within the aviation industry which is contributing to the issue. The Director of DCS, Becky Clark has been in South America to meet with LATAM to discuss the issues, “hopefully we’ll be able to give you an update soon” MLA Pollard added.
pic: the very first LATAM flight to the Falklands – pic HQBFSAI
