09/08/2021 4:33 PM
Clarín.com
Travels
Updated 09/08/2021 4:33 PM
With the authorization of the opening of the Mendoza airport as an international "safe air corridor", the possibility of pilot tests with foreign tourists (which has not yet been completed) and the enabling of the digital credential of the Mi Argentina app as a document to travel to abroad and accrediting being vaccinated against Covid, there is a feeling of walking a path towards normality in the
world of travel.
The
drop in cases
in recent weeks in the country and the progress with openings, helps.
However, the
threat of the Delta variant
is latent and
international flights
and the entry of travelers are still
restricted
: the National Directorate of Migration had anticipated that from September 6 the entry of
2,300 passengers per day
from abroad would
be authorized
( until now there were 1,700) as long as other airports were enabled, as in the case of Mendoza.
Mendoza airport will be able to receive international flights.
Photo Orlando Pelichotti
Precisely, Administrative Decision 898/2021 that was published last night in the Official Gazette says that “the authorization of new safe corridors is a
condition for the expansion of the weekly quota
on passenger flights and constitutes a prior collection, as well as the scope within the which may authorize, depending on the situation of vaccination, sanitary and epidemiological coverage in origin and destination, the implementation of a pilot experience of
border tourism with Chile and Uruguay
”.
Quotas, airports and airlines
From Jurca, the chamber that brings together the airlines of Argentina explains that the quota is given once the new sanitary corridor with the airports of the interior is authorized.
"Having received last night the note of this authorization (from Mendoza), what ANAC (National Civil Aviation Administration) told us is that they were applying this new quota. They will decide whether or not to adjust the quotas that were given for the flights. this month. At the Mendoza airport there will be no flights until the new procedures and the feasibility of the airport are fulfilled, "they say.
However, they are not overnight changes.
It is estimated that it is for Mendoza or any other airport in the interior that is enabled, such as Córdoba, until a first flight arrives, “almost 30 days” may pass.
Part of this process is visible in the tweets of the
National Director of Migration
, Florencia Carignano, who points out that "they will be operational when the Provincial Government installs the laboratories that are part of the protocol required to guarantee compliance with sanitary measures."
The National Government approved Mendoza's proposal to enable the international airport and the Cristo Redentor pass as safe corridors for the entry of Argentines and resident foreigners.
We strengthen the articulation with the provinces as @wadodecorrido asks us.
pic.twitter.com/pWSSfXkeXC
- Florence Carignano (@florcarignanook) September 7, 2021
Another entity that this Monday, September 6, came out to mark the need to make international revenues more flexible is the International Air Transport Association (IATA): they consider that although there is slow progress, it is still
insufficient
and that they do not understand "in what criteria The government has been scientifically based so far to determine daily passenger quotas. "
"The increasing number of vaccinated travelers, the good sanitary conditions that have allowed a progressive lack of refinement and the prevalence of tests and biosecurity measures allow restoring the air operation without having to put limits. In Argentina, the
draconian measures
adopted so far they are impacting the country's connectivity with the world, ”said Peter Cerdá, IATA's regional vice president for the Americas.
Stranded passengers
In the midst of all these discussions, announcements and exchanges of views,
there are people who have not yet been able to return home.
It should be remembered that the starting point was the decision, at the end of June, to reduce the entry quota for Argentines with a maximum limit of 600 passengers per day, which left many flights suspended and many Argentines unable to return home.
"Of the stranded, it
is very difficult to have a number
between the time that passed and the number of passengers who made their return early", they explain in Jurca and add: "Many returned with another airline or doing other sections, there are unused tickets to the return.
We don't have a number.
It is imaginable that
with the new quotas many were relocating to return
”.
"The important thing is to free up the income quotas," they say from IATA.
Photo: Shutterstock.
From IATA they do not have that data either, but they emphasize that the important thing is to free up the income quotas so that all those who are outside the country can return.
"All passengers on international flights are relocated to earlier or later flights, in the event of cancellations, which are much less than in previous months," they say on Aerolineas Argentinas, which has published on its website all the international flights scheduled until December 30. September.
However, although there are no official figures or estimates, although many have already managed to return, there are still
people stranded waiting for a solution
.
This is the case of
Lara Buzzi, 24
, who traveled to the United States in June 2019 for work.
He was there for two years and in June 2021 he decided to pass through Mexico before returning to Argentina to visit his father who lives there.
"I
had a flight to Argentina on July 13
, but a week or ten days before the date, the travel agency told me that my flight had been canceled and that I had two options: ask for a refund or reschedule it according to the available flights", bill.
Lara Buzzi, stranded in Mexico.
A heavenly place, but from which you cannot return for the moment.
Photo Lara Buzzi
Among the five alternatives offered, four were with a stopover in the United States.
"But I no longer had a valid visa. The fifth option was to fly from Cancun to Barcelona, and from Barcelona direct to Buenos Aires paying $ 1,000 more."
Lara
asked for the refund - which she has not received yet -
while she is living with her father and sister in Isla Mujeres.
"I have no problems with money or lodging, but I need to go back," he says.
He hopes to get a flight in October as his passport expires in November
.
Another case is that of
Juan Manuel Giménez
(50 years old), stranded in New York with his family.
They flew to the United States as part of a family trip planned in advance and postponed by the pandemic.
They arrived on July 10 and were due to return on July 31.
After several rescheduling - and the return of two of the six members of the family group - now the remaining four have a return date for September 11.
Juan Manuel Gimenez, stranded with his family in New York.
Photo Juan Manuel Gimenez
"We had a hotel until August 12 and then we moved, renting a house or apartments through Airbnb. The issue is that here there are many people moving to the cities to house on the outskirts and it is also high season and strong tourism is reactivated Finding a place to stay for so many days is impossible and even less at a reasonable price, "says Juan Manuel, who is now in a little house in the mountains just over two hours from New York.
"It is a tremendous anguish. It is very difficult to understand. Because those of us who travel often for work realize that in the world there is a different reality than the one depicted in Argentina of the pandemic," he says.
Like the cases of Lara and Juan Manuel, there are still many, although no one knows exactly how many there are.
From different sectors it is about providing some kind of containment.
For this Thursday, September 9, for example, a
zoom
was organized
to see how to help them and, essentially, make the situation visible.
"The expansion of the quota is not the solution. The solution is that all Argentines can return to their country, that all Argentines can go and return whenever we want because there are no epidemiological reasons to cancel flights. You can request PCR, vaccination, but do not close airports. The quota that opens with Mendoza is not significant, "says Sabrina Ajmechet, candidate for deputy of Together for Change and invites you to join the virtual meeting.
Look also
How the Mendoza airport will work to receive flights from abroad
Travel to Spain: one by one, the requirements to enter from Argentina