AA2000 posts US$11.4mn 9mth. net loss

Argentine airport concessionaire Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000) posted a 32.8mn peso (US$11.4mn) net loss in the first nine months, versus a 10.3mn net profit in the same period last year. For the period, AA2000 posted a 76.9mn peso operating loss due to continued high operating costs and an increase in administrative costs, as well as a 23.1% drop in sales to 233mn pesos, the concessionaire said in a statement to the country's securities regulator, the CNV. According to AA2000, they expect a gradual recovery in passenger traffic as the economy reactivates, albeit with reduced plane traffic due to reduced frequency and smaller fleets, while cargo traffic is expected to fall due to increased costs and an important fall in imports. In October, President Nestor Kirchner inked a decree that suspended former President Eduardo Duhalde's decree to end contract renegotiations with AA2000. Under former President Duhalde's decree - one of his last actions before handing over to Kirchner on May 25 - AA2000's annual canon to the government was cut by more than half. AA2000, which operates 32 airports in Argentina, is a multinational consortium formed by Corporacion America Sudamericana (35%), Societa Per Azioni Esercizi Aeroportuali (28%), Simest Spa (8%), Ogden Corporation (28%), and RIVA (1%). Its 30-year concession began in 1998.