General - Lan Chile Flights - MOD Flights - PRESS RELEASE

Flights to the Falkland Islands

The following Press Release from Falkland Islands Tourism can be found on their website at www.tourism.org.fk

Tour operators should be assured that the air access to the Falkland Islands by means of the Lan Chile and RAF scheduled flights detailed elsewhere in this site remains unaltered, despite misleading stories circulating recently in the press of Argentina and elsewhere.

While the future of a mid-week Lan Chile flight looks uncertain, the Falkland Islands Development Corporation is actively pursuing with Lan Chile the possibility of increasing the capacity of the Saturday flights during the austral summer.  At present this service is provided by an Airbus 320, but it is hoped that by next November we may see a Boeing 767 on the route, which as well as providing extra regular passenger and freight capacity, would also facilitate the exchanges of cruise ship passengers currently inhibited by the Argentine Government's ban on charter flights.

With regard to the charter flight situation, the following statement was made by UK Foreign Office Minister, Bill Rammell, to the UK Parliament on Monday March 1, 2004.

"I made a Statement to this House on airlinks between the Falklands and Argentina on 19 January.  I would like to report on developments since then.

I travelled to Argentina on 16/17 February on a pre-planned bilateral visit.  I held talks on a wide range of international, regional and bilateral issues.  The question of airlinks featured in my talks with the Argentine Foreign Minister, Dr. Rafael Bielsa.  The talks were frank and constructive and we made some progress.  Some proposals were discussed which we each agreed to look at further.  These proposals primarily focused on temporary arrangements for charter flights for 2004.  I made clear that any arrangements would need to be acceptable to the Falkland Islanders.

Regrettably, shortly following my visit, an article appeared in an Argentine newspaper, giving details of my talks and wrongly asserting that a "deal" on airlinks had been agreed.  As I have indicated, this was not the case.

I spoke subsequently to Falkland Councillors.  They concluded that the proposals for temporary arrangments did not meet their concerns.  However, they agreed that we should continue to discuss the issue with the Argentine Government with a view to securing a permanent solution to the question of charter flights rather than having further temporary arrangements.

We are now taking this forward with the Argentine Government, with the full agreement of Councillors.  I will keep the House informed of progress."

Falkland Islands councillors confirm that they have agreed to this approach.

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