Overview
- Workers at the National Meteorological Service (SMN) lifted Friday’s planned 5 a.m. to noon “weather blackout” late Thursday after the government ruled the strike illegal, and airports are expected to operate normally.
- Decree No. 274/2026 names EANA, the state air navigation company, as the primary provider of aviation meteorology during a 180 business day transition to keep flight operations supplied with required weather reports.
- The decree classifies the aviation weather function as an essential service and redirects 10% of the Flight Protection Fee from the SMN to a Treasury account tied to EANA’s new role.
- The conflict stems from about 140 recent layoffs at the SMN, with unions warning of station closures, fewer trained observers and weaker forecasts and alerts that pilots, ports and civil protection agencies rely on.
- Union leaders called assemblies for Friday to set next steps, and experts caution that adding automated stations cannot quickly replace on‑site observers who feed the data that makes global forecast models accurate over Argentina.