Argentina’s government has signed an accord to buy back troubled national flagship carrier Aerolineas Argentinas from its Spanish owners, officials said.
The deal on Monday, with Spain’s Marsans group which held a controlling 94.4 per cent share of the airline, will see the government take on Aerolineas Argentinas’s staggering USD 890-million debt.
That sea of red ink, racked up since the company was privatised in 1990, had threatened to down the airline, which has 40 per cent of its fleet grounded, government officials and unions said.
The transfer of ownership was signed by government officials and Marsans representatives in the economy ministry in Buenos Aires.
Argentina’s government held just five per cent in the airline before the deal, which was announced last week after months of negotiations and, reportedly, much arm-twisting by Buenos Aires.
The accord — whose value has not been divulged ? gives the state 99.4 per cent of the airline.
The remaining 0.6 per cent is held by employees, though Argentine Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime has said that too will be purchased to completely re-nationalise the company.
Argentina has been embarking on a general e-nationalisation programme since recovering from its 2000 inancial collapse. Water, postal and railway companies have all been put back under state control.
The accord signed on Monday included Austral, a domestic airline linked to Aerolineas Argentinas that had also been owned by Marsans. Together, the two airlines accounted for 80 per cent of internal flights.