Roxana Badaloni
10/22/2020 1:42 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 10/22/2020 1:45 PM
With a delay of two hours in relation to what was expected, after a change of aircraft due to a technical failure and with great anxiety, after 217 days
the domestic flights returned to
Mendoza.
The wine province awaited the passengers who left Ezeiza with good news: it no longer requires visitors fourteen days of isolation in hotels or a covid-19 test.
By national provision, only essential workers (health, security forces, judicial, press, among a few others) or people with medical or humanitarian reasons (such as visiting a sick family member) that justify the transfer can fly.
However, these trips are the
prelude to the reopening of national tourism
: "Mendoza is prepared with its protocols to reactivate flights for tourism with Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Bariloche and Cataratas," said the local Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mariana Juri.
"It was a rough flight. We had to change planes," said Kirchner senator Anabel Fernández Sagasti at the Mendoza airport.
The passengers said that when they were already in their seats, preparing to take off from Ezeiza, they heard an alarm and, by protocol, they had to get off the plane and board another.
This caused a delay of two hours.
Instead of leaving at six in the morning, they did so at eight.
There were 70 travelers.
With enough space, a
seat
was placed
in between
.
Temperature controls at Mendoza airport.
María de los Ángeles Torres (32, in the photo with her mother) traveled to Buenos Aires for medical treatment.
It was exciting for the employees of El Plumerillo airport to return to their jobs.
“We had
35 daily flights
until the pandemic hit.
Starting today, we will have a daily frequency with Buenos Aires, and on Sunday three flights are expected from Aerolineas Argentinas and JetSmart ”, said Sergio Rinaldo, general manager of the Western business unit of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000.
Behind each passenger there is a story, some with waits of months to fly.
“I have to go every 45 days to have a medical eye treatment in Buenos Aires.
I was waiting for this opportunity.
We had many flight cancellations, ”said María de los Ángeles Torres (32) from Mendoza, who was waiting with her mother to board the El Plumerillo-Ezeiza flight.
In April he traveled by car to Buenos Aires and
took 30 hours to get there
.
He endured long waits - up to ten hours in San Luis - in the interprovincial limits due to the restrictions by the covid-19.
That same plane trip takes just an hour and a half.
In turn, Mariana Giménez (23) and her son Julián (5) were also among the 90 passengers who would board the plane to Buenos Aires.
At last they were able to make their way home to Temperley.
"I came four months ago to visit my family in Mendoza and I could not return because there was no way to travel," explained Mariana.
He paid
$ 8,500 for each ticket
on Aerolineas Argentinas.
"I'm very anxious, I hardly slept waiting for this moment," she said before getting on the plane to Ezeiza.
Mariana Giménez (23) and her son Julián (5) were among the 90 passengers who would board the plane to Buenos Aires.
At 9:50 a.m., the Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 737-800 with 70 passengers landed in Mendoza.
"It is a great joy to be able to receive this first flight and strengthen the strategy of balance between health and the economy", said the Minister of Tourism of Mendoza. And remarked: "They spent
217 days without flying
. Recovering connectivity is not less in a a country so dependent on Buenos Aires for medical treatment and labor issues ”.
Those who arrived in Mendoza will not have to do the mandatory isolation before 14 days in a hotel.
“We are going to put efforts in new, more useful strategies;
more tests and more beds
for the treatment of the pandemic ”, specified Juri.
By protocol, all passengers must wear their masks at all stages of the flight.
Passengers with covid-19 or with symptoms compatible with the disease may not travel.
Upon arriving at the Mendoza air station, each passenger's temperature is taken.
And before leaving, they must fill out an affidavit stating that they are healthy and that they had no contact with any infected person.
Prohibited for tourists
For now,
domestic tourism remains prohibited
.
In Mendoza, internal tourism works fully and the province has its protocols ready to receive tourists from other districts of the country.
The Government of Mendoza has asked the Nation to reactivate land passenger transport.
“We have to alleviate the situation of thousands of Argentines, it is not good for anyone to have the borders closed.
We can do it with care and complying with the protocols ”, said Minister Juri.
And he asked that flights to Chile and Brazil be resumed "as soon as possible."
Mendoza. Correspondent.
LGP
Look also
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