Southern Winds

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Southern Winds
IATA code : A4
ICAO code : SWD
Call sign :
Founding:
Operation stopped: 2005
Seat: Cordoba , ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina 
Number of employees: about 800
Fleet size:
Aims: South America, Europe
Southern Winds ceased operations in 2005. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Southern Winds was an Argentine airline . In the 1990s and early 2000s , it was the country's second largest airline after Aerolíneas Argentinas .

Although the airline was badly hit by the economic crisis in Argentina at the turn of the millennium , from 2003 it became the second Argentinian airline to offer intercontinental flights to Spain .

It hit the headlines in 2005 mainly because of a drug scandal that led to the closure of the company.

Drug scandal

In September 2004, two pieces of luggage containing 60 kg of cocaine were found on a Southern Winds flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid . The investigation by the Argentine authorities resulted in the arrest of several airline employees in February 2005, who were accused of operating a sophisticated drug smuggling system. Southern Winds founder Juan Maggio was also interrogated by the authorities, but initially released for lack of evidence of involvement in the scandal. The process dramatically worsened the situation of the airline, which only flew to a few destinations in Argentina and suspended its flights to Europe and the USA. In July 2005 the line was sold to a catering company from Ushuaia .

At the end of 2005, Southern Winds ceased operations when the only remaining aircraft had to be repaired due to a defect. After that, it made the headlines mainly because of the protests of the employees. Although the airline has not been operating for a long time and several negotiations about its sale or break-up have already taken place, which however failed, it still exists legally and its future is unclear.

See also

swell