Falkland Islands Cold Comfort

On a gray and chilly morning last week, a Royal Air Force Lockheed L-1011 TriStar became the first wide-bodied passenger jet to land on the Falkland Islands, marking the start of regular air service from London. Then Britain's Prince Andrew officially opened the islands' still unfinished Mount Pleasant airport. Almost half the Falklands' 1,850 residents jostled for a view of the royal occasion; there was even a 10-ft.-long commemorative cake. But some of the reactions to the $345 million airport were not as sweet as the cake.

Argentina, which is eager to resume talks with Britain about the islands' sovereignty after losing a war over the issue three years ago, was unhappy because the main purpose of the 8,500-ft. runway is to accommodate British military traffic. At an emergency meeting in Washington of the Organization of American States, Argentine Foreign Minister Dante Caputo accused Britain of "fortifying the islands" (the Malvinas to Argentines) and endangering peace in the area.

In Moscow, the government newspaper Izvestiya charged that the airport was part of a Western plan to turn "the archipelago into a powerful military outpost." Even the British were not of one mind. Labor M.P. George Foulkes, a member of the opening delegation even though he opposes Westminster's estimated $750 million-a-year defense allocation to protect the islands, declared that the celebration was nothing more than "a load of hoo-ha."