Agrupación Aérea Presidencial

Agrupación Aérea Presidencial (Presidential Air Group) is the Head of State Air Transport Unit of Argentina.

Contents

Background

The Presidential Air Group is a small fleet of Argentine Air Force aircraft and helicopters for official use by the President, immediate family and senior government officials. The fleet is administered by the Casa Militar ("Military House"), charged with presidential security and transportation. Both military and civilian pilots staff the fleet.

The aircraft are painted white with pale blue lines, evoking the Argentine Flag.

Aircraft

The main aircraft is a Boeing 757 known as Tango 01 after its military registry: "T-01" (the "T" stands for "Transport", although it is fortuitously pronounced "Tango", as in the Argentine national dance, in the NATO alphabet). The 757 entered in service in 1995 replacing the former T-01, a Boeing 707.

The aircraft is nicknamed Virgen de Luján after Argentina's Patron saint.

The Tango 01 757 has been an object of political contention for the last decade (and a political campaign hot-topic during the 1999 Presidential election), with many politicians and media commentators denouncing this aircraft as an unnecessary and expensive luxury prone to abuse by presidents, their families, friends and political allies.

The current Presidential fleet also includes two Fokker F28 (T-02 and T-03) (one always in service), a Learjet 60 (T-10) and a Rockwell Sabreliner (T-11). The Learjet and Sabreliner are also used by the Air Force Chief of Staff.

These aircraft are based at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery and El Palomar Air Force base.

As helicopters, a Sikorsky S-70 (H-01pic) and two Sikorsky S-76 (H-02pic and H-03pic) also make-up the fleet, with an additional Air Force Bell 212, as needed.

During Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández administration AAP used different aircraft for their global flights, most notably Boeing 747 loaned from Aerolíneas Argentinas and a private Bombardier Global 5000 [1]

Former aircraft

The Argentine Air Force Tango 01 over the years:

Fleet helicopters:

Trivia

Incidents

References

  1. ^ Cristina voló a Seúl en jet privado, los ministros en vuelo de línea
  2. ^ Marambio Station on the webpage of the French Polar Teams.
  3. ^ El avión de Cristina se averió y tuvo que aterrizar en Caracas