A concession that could run to 2066
Argentina's government faces a defining choice for its airport system: whether to extend until 2066 the concession that Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, a company of Eduardo and Martín Eurnekian's Corporación América group, holds over 35 air terminals, or to open the business to a tender with new competitors. The current concession expires in 2038, after an extension granted during the pandemic because of the fall in air traffic. According to a C5N report, the company argues it needs the new term to keep investing in the infrastructure of the airports it manages.[S1]
A report by Felicitas Bonavitta for C5N examined Eduardo Eurnekian's request to extend until 2066 the concession of the airports administered by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, a decision that Javier Milei's government should take ahead of the expiry foreseen for 2038. As the journalist reconstructed, the businessman runs most of the airports of the Argentine Republic through the company, which currently operates 35 terminals from the original concession plus two more incorporated through direct agreements, in a business that concentrates much of national air traffic.[S2]
The president's ties to the company
The report also reviewed the previous working relationship between the President and the businessman: Milei served as chief economist and financial adviser to companies of the Corporación América group between 2008 and 2021, before making the leap into politics. That background had generated ethical inhibitions for the head of state to intervene in decisions linked to his former employer, a period that expired in December 2024.[S1]
The report also revisited the employment link that existed between the current President and the businessman, since Milei worked for 13 years at Corporación América, between 2008 and 2021, where he served as chief economist and financial adviser to various companies belonging to Eurnekian's group. During the report, the journalist focused on that relationship and stated that Javier Milei was an employee of Corporación América for 13 years before becoming President, while today he must decide on a concession that represents one of the country's main airport infrastructure businesses.[S2]
An act awaiting signatures
According to the C5N investigation, Executive branch officials had advanced in drafting an act to formalize the extension, which at the time of the report only needed to be signed by Legal and Technical and by the President himself. The proposal pushed by Eduardo and Martín Eurnekian's company is significant in scale: as C5N reconstructed, the new horizon sought for the concession climbs to 2066, far above the term currently in force. To that end, Executive officials had worked confidentially on drafting an act that would formalize the extension, a document that, according to that investigation, only needed to be signed by Legal and Technical and by Milei himself to take effect. That mechanism would allow the contract to be extended directly, without the need to call a new tender process that would enable other companies to compete for the administration of the air terminals.[S1]
According to Bonavitta's investigation, government officials had worked on an act intended to extend the concession, which at the time of the report only required the signatures of Legal and Technical and of the President to enter into force, an alternative that would avoid new competition for the administration of the terminals. Bonavitta stated during the report that for some time officials of Javier Milei's government had been working secretly on an act, describing the process that would have advanced within the Executive branch to resolve the future of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000.[S2]
The decision ahead
The final decision will rest with the Executive branch, which must choose between moving forward with the extension requested by the company or calling a tender process that allows other operators to participate in the administration of the country's main airports.[S1]
