“We are Argentines and if there is a people that knows how to navigate storms, it is us. » National pride, myth of resilience and, of course, aerial metaphor: the Aerolíneas Argentinas advertising video displays the idea of an aeronautical company merged with the population, of all. In short, a true public company. That was in 2022. Two years later, with the ultraliberal president Javier Milei in power, the horizon is radically different.
On October 2, the Executive published a decree to immediately begin the parliamentary discussions necessary for the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas. Even before coming to power, in December 2023, Javier Milei warned: “Everything that can be in the hands of the private sector will be. » In his libertarian view: sixty public companies, in total, which, according to him, would be better managed by the private sector than by a State that should be reduced to a minimum.
“In 2023, only seven public companies have made profits”states the presidential decree. He denounces the “oversized” in terms of personnel, particularly pilots, of Aerolíneas Argentinas, as well as the 8,000 million dollars (7,300 million euros) that the State has had to pay it since its nationalization in 2008, due to its “chronic deficit”. To justify its objective, the government highlights in particular the record poverty figures (52.9% of the population), an increase of eleven points since it came to power: “The State must direct its limited budgetary resources to the needs of the most disadvantaged. »
“But Aerolíneas Argentinas is a strategic tool for a government and fulfills a public service mission! », Carlos Figueroa, former communications director of the company (2019-2023), reacts. “Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world [sa superficie représente cinq fois la France]Without its flag airline and without connections that are certainly not advantageous from a commercial point of view, entire regions would be disconnected.”continues the former spokesperson, while the country cannot count on a solid railway network, dismantled during the liberal years of the 1990s. “And then, we must also highlight the tax revenues as well as the foreign exchange income generated by the purchase of tickets”argues Mr. Figueroa. “The strategy for rationalizing public companies should not be reduced to privatization”adds the economist Nicolás Gadano, on September 21, quoted by the newspaper Clarion.
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