Flights to and from Buenos Aires’ Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza) international airport will be disrupted from 9 p.m. on Thursday as pilots hold a union assembly to discuss a pay dispute.
The measure is expected to lead to disruption, including delays, cancellations, and changes to flight times. Airlines are likely to attempt to reschedule flights for before or after the assembly. Flights scheduled to take off or land before the assembly starts or after it finishes are not likely to experience disruption.
The schedule, as well as the unions participating, may change, according to a spokesperson at airport operating company Aeropuertos Argentina. Some flights cannot be rescheduled due to regulations about when the crew has to rest, he added.
At least 20 flights were canceled on Monday at Jorge Newbery (Aeroparque) airport, in Buenos Aires City, because of the union meetings. Around 6,500 passengers were affected by the disruption. Some flights were moved from Aeroparque to Ezeiza. Problems continued past the end of the meeting, as airlines and the airport sought to rearrange all the changed flights.
Airline and airport workers have announced a series of assemblies throughout the rest of August. The schedule is as follows:
August 27 at Córdoba and Mendoza airports from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
August 28 at Ezeiza airport, from 9 p.m. until midnight
August 30 at Aeroparque from 6-9 a.m.
Passengers can check the status of all flights on Aeropuertos Argentina’s website or their airline’s website. Travelers should also check their emails regularly in case of changes.
Aeronautical unions have organized the assemblies to protest salaries they say have fallen far behind inflation.
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“This is strictly a wage dispute,” said the Argentine Air Navigators’ Association secretary general, Pablo Brey, in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. “There are families who are seeing their income totally outdated, by around 70%, and their purchasing power has been through the floor since this government took office.”
The association confirmed that the assembly would start at 9 p.m. on Thursday, but did not say at what time it would end.
Pilots are calling for companies to come to the negotiating table to discuss pay rises that would account for inflation, Brey added.
The dispute comes as controversy rages over the future of national carrier, Aerolíneas Argentinas. Current President Javier Milei has spoken about his desire to privatize the airline, and even included it in a list of state companies to privatize in the original version of his flagship reform law known as the Ley Bases. The opposition, however, managed to exclude that provision and the final bill passed in Congress did not include the company.
In July, the government began removing regulations on the commercial aviation industry.