After 22 years since the first case against the National State began for failure to comply with the commitments assumed in 1994, and having achieved a favorable ruling in all judicial instances ; Kaikén Líneas Aéreas SA, a company based in Tierra del Fuego and successor to Valls Líneas Aéreas y Servicios SRL; will go to court again demanding compensation for a monetary amount of U$S 69,037,200.00 , “for the damages” suffered , “due to legal non-compliance” on the part of the Ministry of Transportation of the Nation, after it did not restore its routes granted in public hearing throughout the 1990s, which former secretary Ricardo illegally Jaime , annulled in 2007, by Resolution No. 699/07.
The action will be carried out after exhausted all administrative avenues, requesting the need to recover the extensive network of air routes, which linked the main cities and tourist destinations of Patagonia, with Mendoza, Bahía Blanca and Córdoba, with a final authorization, to Mar del Plata.
During the 1990s, the company owned by businessman Oscar Valls managed to become the main regional airline in Argentina, operating with eight turboprop aircraft: 2 De Havilland Dash-7 with 50 seats, 3 Saab 340 with 34 seats and 3 Fairchield Metro. II with 19 seats, having an average of 550 passengers transported per day and 75% of its available seats covered.
The graduate in economics, lawyer, TLA pilot and Lieutenant Commander, Oscar Valls; president of Kaikén Líneas Aéreas SA (Courtesy: Cristian Cohen)
Stop flying due to non-compliance with the National State
Convened by the government of former President Carlos Menem , through CoNaDePa , the National Commission for the Development of Patagonia; Kaikén Líneas Aéreas SA, agreed in 1994 to join the air-commercial connection project through the PIDAP , the Comprehensive Air Development Program of Patagonia ; to cover, with national financial contributions, the routes and destinations with low occupancy in the cities of the region.
It was so, with that objective; The company embarked on the acquisition of the 2 Dash-7s , with which it became the main airline company that covered the Patagonian destinations proposed by the Nation, but also made constant efforts to fly to the Malvinas Islands and Antarctica.
However, after a year and a half of PIDAP implementation , the Ministry of Economy led by Domingo Felipe Cavallo , decided to cancel the program and with it, the payments committed by the government itself.
In any case, the airline continued to provide services in accordance with the commitments made, until February 12, 2020; date on which, due to the financial problems that were accumulating, it stopped operating after having called a meeting of creditors.
Fly again to join Ushuaia with Petrel
In 2021, after the court ruling had been ratified, who ruled that the company was right regarding the economic damage generated by the National State itself; The president of the company met with Governor Gustavo Melella requesting his management so that the important funds owed and recognized by the federal courts; were transferred to the Provincial Bank of Tierra del Fuego so that the company could move forward with the leasing acquisition of two new aircraft to resume its operations, and especially with the objective of beginning non-regular flights between Ushuaia and the Petrel Base in Antarctica.
In parallel, the company sent notes to the National Transportation Secretariat requesting the restoration of its routes; which, despite the insistence; no response was ever obtained.
After exhausting all administrative channels, the airline will once again appeal to the courts, claiming “damages” as a result of the lack of response to its request for the return of its air routes. Routes that after 24 years in which Kaiken stopped operating; No other company came to cover it, on the scale reached a quarter of a century ago.
