Luis Ceriotto
10/12/2020 11:24 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 10/12/2020 11:41 AM
The government
lifted the suspension for regular domestic flights,
with which the first passenger planes could take off next week to link destinations
between some 15 provinces
throughout the country.
The four airlines that operate cabotage in Argentina had already rescheduled their first flights this weekend
for Monday 19.
They will not be tourist flights
, since in a first stage
only "essential" workers and people who must travel for medical treatment will be enabled,
as well as any other exception that will be at the discretion of the Chief of Staff.
In addition, the Government will address
the objections raised by those governors
who still do not want the planes to arrive in their provinces.
Even with all these restrictions, the measure published today in the Official Gazette represents
the return of commercial aviation within the national territory,
an activity that
was closed for seven months, as
a result of the Covid-19 pandemic
.
It also enables, with restrictions,
long distance buses
.
For the moment, Decree 792, published today, extends the authorization of "
interurban and interjurisdictional
public transport
" to essential workers and those passengers who must be transferred for health reasons, along with their companions.
The decree also leaves the authorization of other types of passengers to the discretion of the Chief of Cabinet, "prior intervention of the
Ministry of Transport
."
Translated, as of Tuesday the portfolio headed by
Mario Meoni
will begin a round of consultations with the provincial governors to agree in a consensual way to which provinces the airlines may fly.
"They will talk to everyone and they will try to resume flights in all provinces, but
if a governor does not want to, they will,
" said government sources.
The previous polls, according to the same sources, show that
"between 15 and 16 provinces"
want the planes to land again with passengers at their airports.
In addition to the political decision, both of the Nation and the provinces, from the new DNU, technical and administrative resolutions are now pending, both from the Ministry of Transportation and the
National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC)
.
"The decree lifted the generic suspension but requires the regulation by Transport and ANAC of the return resolutions of the cabotage trips. This Monday the ANAC will modify the internal notification for the airlines. And on Tuesday all the regulations will come out, since You have to coordinate with all the governors, "added sources from the commercial sector.
Before the pandemic, there were seven airlines that made domestic flights:
Aerolíneas, Austral, LATAM, Andes, Flybondi, Norwegian and JetSmart
.
In June, LATAM announced the closure of its Argentine subsidiary, thus vacating its place in the cabotage market.
And Austral is in the process of being absorbed by Aerolineas Argentinas, with which
there are no more than four
airlines that will return for the moment
.
A fifth airline is the "low cost" Norwegian of Argentina, which was acquired by JetSmart in December last year, but whose absorption is under "analysis" by the Government.
Where will the domestic flights depart from in the metropolitan region?
There is
one certainty: the flights of
airlines, Andes
and (eventually) to
Norwegian
should leave from
Ezeiza
, as the
Aeroparque
Metropolitano is
closed due to
construction
at least until next January.
But in addition, the Government has not yet defined whether to enable no no, at least at this stage, the operation of the
El Palomar
airport
, where the "low cost" Flybondi and JetSmart are based.
