Mayday! Mayday!

Aerolineas Argentinas heads for a crash landing.

IF ARGENTINA'S TROUBLED FLAGSHIP AIRLINE WERE A PLANE IN flight, its oxygen masks would be dropping, its passengers panicking and its flight attendants readying for an emergency.

"Aerolineas Argentinas is living its most critical moment since the airline was founded 40 years ago," says Ariel Basteiro, general secretary of the Association of Aeronautic Personnel, the airline's main union.

The Spanish management of Aerolineas Argentinas and its hard-line unions have continued hammering at rescue plans