This morning, AerolĂ­neas Argentinas and Austral flights out of Aeroparque Jorge Newberry and Ezeiza International Airport were delayed or cancelled in anticipation of aviation personal action held this morning. At least 15 flights were affected in Aeroparque Jorge Newberry alone. As of 9am this morning, flights have been departing as scheduled, but with an average delay of two hours. Members of five aviation unions met at the airports this morning to demand salary increases, among other items, from the airlines.

The Association of Aviation Personnel (APA) denies responsibility for the complications and instead blamed an “employer’s lock out” between the hours of 5.30am and 8am.

Aerolíneas Argentinas issued a press statement, explaining that the itineraries had been rescheduled because “the union meeting announced and planned for 5am this morning was going to impede normal flight dispatches in the early morning”. It continued by asserting, “Had the company failed to adopt these preventative measures, the meeting that inevitably interrupts or delays services would have affected the entire day’s programming, consequently causing harm to the passengers.” Ultimately, six Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral flights were successfully rescheduled or consolidated. Aerolíneas Argentinas added that passengers were notified yesterday of the changes in travel itineraries.

Union members have decided to use industrial actions to demand a salary raise of 10% of airlines. “We are not ruling out any measures,” declared Edgardo Llano, APA Secretary Genearl. “If we have to arrive at a strike, it could announced or unannounced, but we don’t want to harm passengers any more than what a strike would cause.” These comments retract promises made earlier last week denying the possibility of a strike. Conflicts have built since last March, when wage negotiations were suspended.

Participating unions include the APA, the Superior Personal and Commercial Aviation Company Professionals’ Union (UPSA), the Association of Airline Pilots (APLA), the Argentine Crewmembers’ Association (AAA), and the Airline Aviators’ Union (UALA).

Union actions echo those made by air traffic controllers last July, which caused massive disruptions for passengers at both Ezeiza International Airport and Aeroparque Jorge Newberry.

Union representatives will meet today with the Ministry of Labour to attempt to resolve the conflict.

Fiesta en el Cielo Exhibition at Centro Cultural Borges (Photo: Hannah Flint)

In 2012, at this advanced stage of globalisation, it can be difficult to comprehend just how revolutionary the birth of aviation must have been for those who achieved and witnessed the earliest flights.

Children who now grow up with toy Cessna planes and fighter jets, gleefully crashing remote controlled helicopters into kitchen cabinets, are a clear illustration of how flight has transformed our imagination and sense of possibility in the world.

The hundreds of thousands who board domestic and international flights each day, traversing the skies in their sleep, further serve as a testament to the gruelling engineers and aviation workers who toil to make this kind of world a reality.

It was in this thoughtful and playful spirit that the Argentine Association of Aeroplane Pilots (AAA) conceived the idea of ‘Fiesta en el Cielo’, a 700m² free exhibition at the Borges Cultural Centre in downtown Buenos Aires.

Sponsored and produced by the AAA, the organisation chose world-renowned Argentine pop artist Edgardo Gimenez to bring the party to the sky.

The exhibition space is, frankly, a very bizarre one. For starters, the Borges Cultural Centre is only a few stories high, but the walls of the exhibit are suspended in cloudy blue skies that distort your sense of altitude. It’s not impossible to detect the eccentric spirit of Jorge Luis Borges himself, tweaking out your proprioception in ways only he could.

Displayed throughout the exhibit are five jumbo toy aeroplanes constructed from moulds. Four of them are in bold, solid colour and the last, in the very back, is a white model with green and red emblazoned on its surfaces.

Fiesta en el Cielo Exhibition at Centro Cultural Borges includes life size photographs of flight attendants offering help in many forms. (Photo: Hannah Flint)

All along the walls, standing side by side in mid-air, are recurring life-size photographs of flight attendants dressed in uniform, smiling courteously and offering you refreshments, promotional magazines, safety instructions and the like.

A lot of comparisons come to mind in this space, particularly in the later hours when there are fewer patrons. It could easily be mistaken for either Willy Wonka’s private hangar, heaven as monitored by aircraft personnel, a scene in ‘The Matrix’, or ‘Toy Story’ heavily pumped up on juice. Without question, Gimenez has skilfully captured the oddly sterile cheer and beaming pop potency that stirs up tides of collective imagery.

If this were all, however, the exhibit would leave the visitor with a cloudy understanding of why it came together in the first place.

Ultimately, ‘Fiesta en el Cielo’ is worth the RSVP because, for those inspired to examine such things, it also packages a strong political and social message from the AAA without nose-diving into pure propaganda.

At the centre of the exhibition, a small theatre is set up for visitors to watch a brief documentary chronicling the major milestones of Argentine aviation. The video and exhibit pay tribute to the proud but contentious history of commercial aviation and labour struggle in Argentina.

Focusing primarily on state-owned companies like Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral, the documentary traces the industry’s growth in Argentina through its Peronist foundations, its austere restructuring in the years of dictatorship, the privatisations of the Menem years, and the re-nationalisation that took place in 2008 under the current president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Going the extra step, the AAA has also generously supplied the exhibit with free copies of its 161-page book ‘El cielo es nuestra’ (Heaven is Ours), in which the history of the aviation workers’ struggles and achievements is related in forceful narrative and first-hand testimonies.

The account, written in Spanish, is a refreshingly informative homage, expressed from the specific social angle of union leadership. It makes for a compelling case study of one of Argentina’s historically pioneering industries—from its crises to its triumphs and future aspirations.

AerolĂ­neas Argentinas and Austral have informed passengers that some flights are still cancelled due to the ash clouds caused by volcano Puyehue. The affected destionations are Cordoba, Mendoza, San Juan and San Rafael. Departures to these locations will restart when the weather forecast shows cleaner skies.

Passengers are advised to check their flight status by calling 0810-222-86527 or entering the website www.aerolineas.com