Argentine Airlines Closed a Year for Oblivion
<p style="text-align:justify">Last year was the worst to be remembered in the history of Argentine Airlines and Austral. According to the balance of the companies, which was accessed by this newspaper, between the two they added losses of $ 1,649 million ($ 1,403 million and $ 246 million, respectively).</p>
The loss, which triples that of 2007, is shared between Marsans and the State. The Spaniards operated the company until July 17th 2008, when the Government began paying the salaries, fuel and spare parts and incorporated the former mayor of La Plata, Julio Alak, as General Manager. To keep the aircraft running, the Treasury spun $ 983 million through December and $ 1,263 million accumulated through March. The year 2009 did not start any better. Between January and April the deficit already exceeds $ 300 million. In the coming days, the General Audit of the Nation (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) will present an opinion on these figures.
The international crisis and the short circuits between the private management and the officials pushed Argentine Airlines and Austral to close a worse than expected balance. When the reestablishing process began in Congress, the Transport Secretariat estimated an annual loss of USS 250 million. But the year ended with a deficit of $ 436.2 at yesterday's exchange rate.