Mariano Recalde Takes Over as New President of Aerolineas Argentinas

Mariano Recalde has taken over as president of Argentina’s two government-owned airlines, Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral Lineas Aereas, and defended the July 2008 nationalization.

Between January and June, flights were on time 77 percent of the time, an improvement from the 38 percent figure in July 2008, Recalde said. The government expropriated the airlines from Spain’s Grupo Marsans SA, saying it had failed to deliver on its service promises. The government and Marsans are still arguing over terms of the takeover.

Mr. Recalde, 37 years old, is the son of Representative Hector Recalde, of the ruling Front for Victory party. He trained as a lawyer and most recently worked with a number of labor unions, and is seen as being closely associated with Hugo Moyano, leader of Argentina’s powerful General Confederation of Labor, or CGT.

The airlines’ board of directors has four government representatives: Recalde, vice president Juan de Dios Cingunegui, Eduardo De Pedro and Gustavo Simeonoff. There are two employee representatives on the board: Jorge Mateos and Javier Acosta.