Government renationalises airline

Argentina is set finally to renationalise the Spanish-owned airline, Aerolineas Argentinas (AA). AA and its Austral subsidiary have been under state control since November when a court gave the government management control in order to secure services. Now, Argentina's parliament has given the go-ahead for a full state takeover. This followed the earlier failure of talks with owner, Spanish travel group Marsans. Originally state-owned, Aerolineas was privatised 18 years ago. Marsans agreed in July to sell Aerolineas and Austral to the government, but talks then collapsed after auditors gave widely differing values for the company.