Early years to privatisation restored in Aerolineas Argentinas livery at Buenos Aires-Ministro Pistarini airport, ca. 1958 The history of the airline began in 1929, when
Compagnie Générale Aéropostale (Aéropostale) started airmail operations between
Buenos Aires and
Asunción using
Laté-25 equipment, later expanding its network to cities located in
Patagonia. Late that year, a second-hand
Boeing 747SP was acquired from
Braniff for . This meant no other Argentine airline was able to operate international flights, let alone the already created
Austral. The carrier therefore became the flag carrier of the country. The same law also assigned Aerolíneas Argentinas a 50% share of the domestic market. approaching
London-Heathrow Airport in 1979 Using a Boeing 747-200, the airline operated the first transantarctic commercial flight on 7 June 1980. During and shortly after the
Falklands War in 1982, the airline was banned from British airspace. A flight from
London-Gatwick to Argentina's capital was once scheduled, but because of the ban, passengers bound to Argentina had to change planes at
Madrid-Barajas. In March 1985, Aerolíneas Argentinas had 9,822 employees. At this time, the fleet comprised one
Boeing 707-320B, one
Boeing 707-320C, seven
Boeing 727-200s, 10
Boeing 737-200s, two
Boeing 737-200Cs, five
Boeing 747-200Bs, one Boeing 747SP, two
Fokker F28-1000s, and a
Fokker F28-4000. The international network radiated from Buenos Aires and served
Asunción, Auckland,
Bogotá,
Cape Town,
Caracas, Frankfurt,
Guayaquil, Hong Kong,
La Paz, Lima,
Los Angeles, Madrid,
Mexico City,
Miami,
Montevideo,
Montreal, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome,
São Paulo,
Santiago,
Porto Alegre, and
Zurich. Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral never merged throughout the private era, and remained as separate companies with the same shareholder. Iberia subsequently boosted its stake in the airline to 85% in April 1994 after a cash injection. Passenger traffic for the group reached a record 8.5 million in 2013, a 57% increase from the time of its renationalization in 2008. Revenues rose to a record of US$2 billion in 2013, an 85% increase from 2008 levels; losses likewise declined from $860 million (78% of revenues) to $250 million (12% of revenues). Corporate assets as of 2012 had tripled to over $1.6 billion, as the group's fleet grew from 26 to 63 planes and the average age of same was reduced from 20 years to 7.5. Between 2008 and 2021, Aerolíneas Argentinas received over $8 billion USD in subsidy from the Argentine government. Under his proposal, shares in the airline would be handed over by the state to its workers along with an end in state support for the airline. Unions have expressed opposition to the proposal with one union head promising violence before apologising. Workers have also gone on strike over the issue. On 21 December 2023, Milei announced a presidential decree to begin the process of privatization and transfer of shares, likely to employees. He would also implement
open skies policies including
cabotage to improve competitiveness. ==Corporate affairs==