03/21/2021 8:40 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/21/2021 8:40 PM
Today there are about 110,000 Argentines abroad, according to official data.
Of these, 27,000 are tourists, that is, they will have to return to the country in the coming weeks or months.
These figures coexist with a narrow context, where air restrictions have already begun and
displacement outside Argentina is discouraged by official voices.
This Monday, 20 international flights will land in Ezeiza and another 22 will take off to
Miami, Frankfurt, Santiago de Chile, Lima and San Pablo
, among other destinations.
The passengers of those flights will be part of a limited but current movement that raises a question: from a scenario of closures,
how and when will these people return?
So far, 68 Aerolineas Argentinas flights have been suspended: 40 corresponding to March and 28 to April.
Of those canceled over the weekend, one was leaving for Rio de Janeiro, another for São Paulo and a third for Madrid.
As none of them took off, the return flights scheduled for those routes were also canceled.
While, this Monday a plane was to leave for Rio de Janeiro, but that will not happen either.
Latam also established cancellations.
In recent days, it reduced its operations by 30% to Santiago de Chile, 70% to São Paulo and 30% to Lima.
Thus, it went from ten to eight weekly frequencies to Santiago de Chile, from ten to seven to Lima, and from five to three to San Pablo.
And according to what was foreseen, not only will Aerolineas Argentinas and Latam be the lines with limitations.
Circulation between countries by air must comply with Administrative Decision 219/2021, published on March 13 and valid, for the time being, until April 9.
The text sets a more tenuous or more substantial restriction, depending on the destination.
With Brazil, there was already a 50% reduction in monthly air travel frequencies, which rose to 70%.
Meanwhile, with the United States there was a limitation of 30%, which was raised to 40%.
For Mexico and European countries the reduction of 30% was maintained and in the case of flights to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Chile it was decided to establish the same percentage.
The objective is to reduce the advance of new variants of the coronavirus in the country.
Ezeiza Airport.
They limit the entry of international flights from abroad to Argentina due to Covid 19 outbreak Photos Emmanuel Fernández -
It is not the first time in the year that such a measure has been decided.
At the end of January the government also limited international air flow.
Then, among the travelers, doubts arose regarding the vacations already scheduled.
Many of these inquiries were reflected in dozens of calls and emails written to travel agencies and airlines.
Unlike the previous ones, the current limitations come in a period that is outside the summer and are associated with transfers made for different reasons - work, medical, care of a family member, tourism, among others.
But the uncertainty reappears.
Since December, the land border crossings have been closed for both Argentines and foreigners, and the plane is the only means of passenger transport enabled.
Those who travel from abroad to Argentina must undergo a PCR analysis with a maximum of 72 hours in advance to determine if there is contagion of COVID-19.
And they have to comply with seven or more days of quarantine in an informed address,
until the 10 days since the sample was taken for the PCR.
The drastic reduction of flights.
Martín will travel from Madrid to Buenos Aires.
It will arrive at Easter.
He booked an Airbnb to quarantine on Buenos Aires soil, but he heard Argentine news and worries that they are being forced to go to a hotel and lose the reservations made previously.
He asks his Argentine relatives to notify him of any update or change of plans.
Gonzalo and Soledad have their tickets to Miami.
The original trip was in 2020 but the pandemic interrupted it and rescheduled it for May of this year.
Now with the new restrictions they fear that the same thing will happen again.
For them, May is near and far at the same time and they try not to despair at the lack of foresight imposed by the virus.
Although what stuns them the most is the return.
The air borders are still open today but, in case the health situation becomes even more complicated, it will be the passengers themselves who will have to bear all the costs that the situation entails: sources from the National Directorate of Migration confirmed to Clarín that there will be no repatriation flights.
Gonzalo and Soledad also live outside the City of Buenos Aires, so it also depends on whether their province admits them.
"Today the cancellations do not represent a problem since the occupation of the flights allows to relocate the passengers within a reasonable term, a day or two maximum," a spokesman for Aerolineas Argentinas told Clarín.
And he continued: "It is not the situation of total closure that was experienced at the beginning when special flights were made to bring passengers."
So far outside the country, the largest group of Argentines stranded
are the 143 students who were on a graduate trip in Cancun, Mexico,
and contracted Covid-19.
There are 87 boys in one hotel and 56 in another.
They will stay there until discharge.
GS
