The national government decided to include a restriction for international flights that leave and arrive in the country among the new limits due to the increase in infections by COVID-19.
According to senior sources from the national government, “the airport will not be closed, but a reduction of 30% will be established in the weekly frequencies that arrive at the Ezeiza airport. If until now you had 10 flights per week, now there will be seven ”.
With this, the Executive seeks to contain the mobility of people and, fundamentally, the arrival of the new strain of covid that already has cases of contagion in several countries of the world, especially in Europe.
The measure seeks to complement the decision taken two weeks ago where the Government had resolved the tightening of income to the country by land and air, to prevent a new strain of coronavirus, discovered in Great Britain, from entering the country. So it was that Casa Rosada reported that the flight restrictions were extended to Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
Those exempted from this new measure are diplomats, officials and essential personnel from authorized destinations, who must have authorization from Migrations and present a negative PCR test. International transport personnel and crews, and athletes framed in specific protocols for sporting events, will also be excepted, with prior authorization from Migrations.
This prohibition is valid until tomorrow, January 8, but it is being finalized whether it would be extended or with the measure of a 30% decrease in frequencies, greater control and prevention is achieved regarding the possible arrival of the new strain to the country and that it enters through the Ezeiza International Airport.
The airlines are already notified of this resolution since, according to sources in the sector, Infobae, “All companies were asked to present a proposal for a 30% reduction in frequencies.”
One point that was in doubt is whether the restriction on airlines will also be due to the schedule, so that they do not arrive in the country in the middle of the curfew. However, official sources confirmed that this will not be the case “because the air ticket serves as a justification to mobilize.”
In any case, the airlines already operate with some type of time restriction since the airport has capacity according to each of the zones. From this, the companies had to rearm a flight plan that contemplates that there can be no agglomeration of people in the check-in, pre-boarding or migration areas. “Two flights cannot arrive together because so many people cannot join in migrations, that is why airlines have a complex system for scheduling flights and schedules,” they explained from an airline.
The decision was made after an internal discussion where there was a sector of the Executive that fought for the total closure of the heavens and others that were looking for an intermediate measure.
The issue was on the agenda of last week’s meeting between the president, Alberto Fernandez, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof and the head of the Buenos Aires government; Horacio Larreta. But at that time there was still no firm decision.
According to industry sources, the Ministry of Transportation, ANAC and Orsna were about to keep the skies open but, like the rest of the sectors of the economy, they were awaiting the recommendation that came from the Ministry of Health.
The measure will impact all the companies that arrive in Argentina today, including the local Aerolineas Argentinas that had already resumed all its international routes except New York and Rome – it already flies to Spain, Miami in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay , Mexico– and only in January has 60 international frequencies scheduled.
In addition, it will impact passengers who must now contact the companies to find out if their flight was canceled or not and, in the event that it has been deactivated, obtain a rescheduling.
In addition, it will affect all those who have purchased tour packages abroad, such as trips to Miami or the Caribbean, since the delay will mean a rescheduling of hotel stays.
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