Through Provision 72/2020, the EANA adopted measures in relation to the payment of en-route flight protection and landing support fees, and the Unified Annual Fee.
As a result of the crisis in the aviation sector generated by the Covid-19 outbreak, and the consequent measures taken by the government, the Argentine Air Navigation Company (the “EANA”, after its acronym in Spanish) has decided to defer the payment of en-route flight protection and landing support fees for airlines operating passenger air transport services from, to or within the national territory and jurisdictional waters. According to the EANA, this decision is intended to contribute to immediately reducing the cashflow pressure on airlines operating in the country.
In this regard, the deadline for the payment of such fees was set to be postponed from March 1 to August 31, 2020. Therefore, the EANA will not charge interest on arrears and penalties for that period. This deferral will have no effect in relation to those debts due before the aforementioned period, which will accrue interest until March 1 and will accrue again as of September 1, 2020.
In addition, the Provision orders airlines operating passenger air transport services to submit, by September 1 of this year, a formal proposal for the cancellation of the debt incurred for en-route flight protection and landing support charges, which must be cancelled by December 31, 2020.
Furthermore, the EANA decided to offset the payment of the Unified Annual Fee for the year 2020 on a pro-rata basis for the period from April to August of this year. The EANA charges this fee to small aircraft of national registry whose weight is equal or less than 5,700 kg.
The compensation ordered must be computed as a balance in favor of the payment of the Unified Fee for the year 2021, and must be applied to the extent that the registration does not owe the Unified Fee for previous periods, and that the fee for the year 2020 has been paid in due time. The deadline for payment of the fee has been extended to June 30, 2020
Finally, it should be mentioned that currently commercial air operations are restricted to those flights by exception authorized within the framework of Resolution 100/2020 of the National Civil Aviation Administration (the “ANAC”, after its acronym in Spanish), i.e. flights of a health or humanitarian nature or which are necessary for the fulfilment of essential tasks within the framework of the health emergency.
This insight is a brief comment on legal news in Argentina; it does not purport to be an exhaustive analysis or to provide legal advice.