Argentine President Cristina Fernandez says she is seeking negotiations with the British government to establish direct flights from Buenos Aires to the disputed Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.
"I've instructed the president of Aerolineas Argentinas that they have three instead of two weekly flights, but that these flights go directly from Buenos Aires to Puerto Argentino (Stanley),” Fernandez told Congress on Thursday.
“We really want to show that clearly what we are interested in is the fulfillment of the UN resolutions,” she added.
Fernandez said she wants to renegotiate a 1999 accord with Britain that only allows flights originating from Chile into the islands.
The only commercial link to the islands is provided through a weekly round-trip by Chilean-owned LAN airlines and there are no direct flights from Argentina to the archipelago.
The British Foreign Office issued a statement saying, “Any discussions on flights to the Falkland Islands are matters for the Falkland Islands Government to consider.”
“If Argentina is keen to promote air links between the continent and the Islands it should reconsider its ban on charter flights through its airspace,” it said.
The Malvinas Islands, located about 300 miles off Argentina's coast and home to about 3,000 inhabitants, have been declared as part of the British Overseas Territories since Britain established its colonial rule in the islands in 1833.
Argentina, however, has repeatedly dismissed the British claim over the island.
A 74-day war was fought between Britain and Argentina in 1982 over the islands which ended with the British side claiming victory over Argentineans. A year after the war, the UK enforced the British Nationality Act of 1983, which offers citizenship to the islanders.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated since 2010 when London authorized oil prospecting around the islands.
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