Thousands of passengers – most of them Brazilian holiday-makers and corporate travellers – woke up to text messages on the morning of 19 February to discover that their flights to and from Argentina had been cancelled.
The 24-hour general strike was called by the powerful Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) to protest President Javier Milei’s labour-reform bill, but its immediate collateral damage was felt across Brazilian aviation. By 08:00 local time, São Paulo/Guarulhos had already logged 14 cancellations, Rio de Janeiro/Galeão 31, Brasília one, Porto Alegre two and Florianópolis more than 30, according to airport operators. Aerolíneas Argentinas suspended 255 flights and LATAM and Gol pre-emptively scrubbed or rescheduled additional services.
Brazil’s two largest carriers issued flexible-rebooking waivers: LATAM is allowing date changes within 12 months or full refunds, while Gol is offering changes without penalty or fare difference for travel until 31 March. Travellers are being urged to check flight status before going to the airport and to allow extra connection time in São Paulo, where knock-on delays are expected throughout the day.
![General strike in Argentina grounds dozens of Brazil-Argentina flights, disrupting business travel]()
Although the strike is limited to Argentina, its effects illustrate the fragility of Mercosur’s tightly woven air network. Guarulhos alone handles up to 18 daily frequencies to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario – routes that are heavily used by multinational executives commuting between headquarters and South-American subsidiaries. Cargo flows have also been hit, with perishables held in cool-storage facilities in Campinas and Viracopos until freighter operations can be re-scheduled.
Should the disruption trigger any last-minute visa or travel-document questions—particularly for rerouting through third countries—VisaHQ can step in to streamline the paperwork. The service’s Brazil portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) offers fast, end-to-end processing, real-time status tracking and corporate account management, helping mobility teams keep travellers compliant while they juggle unexpected itinerary changes.
For mobility managers the advice is clear: activate contingency plans, alert travellers already en-route and anticipate lingering operational ripple-effects for at least 36 hours after normal service resumes. In the longer term, travel-buyers should consider dual-ticketing options via Montevideo or Santiago during Argentina’s volatile labour-relations calendar.
The 24-hour general strike was called by the powerful Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) to protest President Javier Milei’s labour-reform bill, but its immediate collateral damage was felt across Brazilian aviation. By 08:00 local time, São Paulo/Guarulhos had already logged 14 cancellations, Rio de Janeiro/Galeão 31, Brasília one, Porto Alegre two and Florianópolis more than 30, according to airport operators. Aerolíneas Argentinas suspended 255 flights and LATAM and Gol pre-emptively scrubbed or rescheduled additional services.
Brazil’s two largest carriers issued flexible-rebooking waivers: LATAM is allowing date changes within 12 months or full refunds, while Gol is offering changes without penalty or fare difference for travel until 31 March. Travellers are being urged to check flight status before going to the airport and to allow extra connection time in São Paulo, where knock-on delays are expected throughout the day.
Although the strike is limited to Argentina, its effects illustrate the fragility of Mercosur’s tightly woven air network. Guarulhos alone handles up to 18 daily frequencies to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario – routes that are heavily used by multinational executives commuting between headquarters and South-American subsidiaries. Cargo flows have also been hit, with perishables held in cool-storage facilities in Campinas and Viracopos until freighter operations can be re-scheduled.
Should the disruption trigger any last-minute visa or travel-document questions—particularly for rerouting through third countries—VisaHQ can step in to streamline the paperwork. The service’s Brazil portal (https://www.visahq.com/brazil/) offers fast, end-to-end processing, real-time status tracking and corporate account management, helping mobility teams keep travellers compliant while they juggle unexpected itinerary changes.
For mobility managers the advice is clear: activate contingency plans, alert travellers already en-route and anticipate lingering operational ripple-effects for at least 36 hours after normal service resumes. In the longer term, travel-buyers should consider dual-ticketing options via Montevideo or Santiago during Argentina’s volatile labour-relations calendar.
