Peru's President Alberto Fujimori has completed a changeover in aviation administrators and his new team is already taking a closer look at the implications of liberalisation for Peruvian airlines.
Fujimori's latest personnel change was to replace the current head of the Director General Transportes Aereos (DGTA)with a new appointee, Jorge Mendoza Melendez, attorney and presidential advisor. This follows on the heels of Fujimori's appointment of Antonio Paucar Carbajal to replace secretary of transport and communications, Elsa Carrera de Escalante, who retired at the end of January.
Mendoza's appointment follows a growing chorus of complaints that the DGTA's former director paid too little attention to the needs of Peru's airlines and moved too fast in opening Peru's skies, especially in granting neighbouring Chile valuable fifth freedoms without obtaining comparable benefits for Peru.
Immediately after taking office, Secretary Paucar reviewed the Peru-Chile bilateral signed last November and delayed the launch of LanChile's US flights. Paucar has since allowed LanChile to start some flights, but recently declared the sensitive Lima-Miami route off-limits. Paucar has declared he is 'closing' the Peru-Chile bilateral for now, and will not yield to Chile's demands for the Miami route. 'During this year we have neither a programme nor a date for beginning new conversations with Chile,' says Paucar.
Paucar has left the door ajar for renewed dialogue next year, but stresses that Chile will have to demonstrate the benefits to Peru before he allows Chilean carriers to carry any traffic between Lima and Miami. He suggests two ways in which Chile could achieve this - by offering Peru other profitable routes in exchange for the Miami route, or by proving that more capacity is needed to meet tourist demand from the US to Peru.
US capacity is already set to rise when AeroContinente becomes the second Peruvian carrier flying to the US. AeroContinente plans to launch services to Miami or Orlando by June. On 1 July, Delta will start daily Boeing 757 flights between Atlanta and Lima. Washington has invited US carriers to bid on other frequencies to Peru.
Lima's new team has also taken a more protective stance in US bilateral negotiations. Lima's counterproposal, submitted during in March, fell far short of the open skies template outlined by Washington last November. According to Secretary Paucar, Lima would consent to an increase in weekly US frequencies from the present 42 to 70 if they were phased in over four years. In return Lima wants new gateways in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and unlimited access and rights through Miami to Madrid, Rome, and possibly Tokyo. The current Peru-US bilateral expires in June.
Source: Airline Business
