Airlines demand meeting with Argentine government over 'virtual border closure
The Argentine government confirmed last Friday the new border measures it will maintain until 9 July. The new Delta variant of the coronavirus has prompted the creation of new sanitary restrictions, which, on this occasion, affect the country's air borders.
According to government sources, this measure aims to minimise the circulation and spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The companies warned of the possibility that some Argentinian citizens "could be left outside the country" due to this air closure.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed its dissatisfaction with the measure. Its regional vice-president for the Americas, Peter Cerdá, issued a statement urging the government to meet with those most affected and alternated the risks of this decision.
"The new 70% reduction in the number of international passengers that can arrive daily in the country will force airlines to leave thousands of passengers abroad, mainly Argentine citizens and residents, through no fault of their own," concluded IATA's Peter Cerdá.
The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) also expressed uncertainty about the new restrictions, the lack of certainty leaves open questions about how seats will be distributed, and it will be the passenger who suffers the consequences. In its communiqué, ALTA called for talks with the government of Argentina to avoid unilateral and short-term measures affecting workers and passengers.
The last of the airline associations to speak out was JURCA, a chamber of airlines operating in Argentina. In a communiqué, it denounced the "virtual closure of borders", stating that the "untimely" decision forced it to "cancel and/or reschedule part of its flights planned for the remainder of June and part of July, depending on the authorisations received so far".
According to Felipe Baravalle, executive director of JURCA, this measure has taken passengers and airlines by surprise as the number of flights has been reduced even more "let's take into account that before the pandemic we had approximately 155 daily international landings throughout the country and today we will have 3 daily landings, almost 2% of what we had before".
Florencia Carignano, National Director of Migration, defended the new restrictions, arguing that they favour "internal activity and Argentines who have to be vaccinated".
Carignano affirmed that "it is not a problem if someone returns later from their holidays", recognising that "these are unpleasant measures, but we are in this situation". And he stressed that "if this continues, the measures will continue in July and August", but it will depend on "the progress of vaccination".
Limitations
With the new restrictions, as of Monday, 28 June, only 600 passengers will be able to enter Argentina by air and the rest of the borders will remain closed to non-residents.
It was also reported that flights from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Chile, Brazil, India, African countries and Turkey will continue to be suspended.
In addition, it has been established that people who "return from abroad between 1 July and 31 August are obliged to isolate themselves in places determined by the provincial governments and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) for 10 days, counting from the test carried out in the country of origin".
The government has announced that it will monitor compliance with the period of home isolation and that, in the event of non-compliance, it will take legal action, invoking articles 205 and 239 of the Penal Code, "for violation of measures against epidemics and disobedience to authority", which provide for prison sentences of 6 months to 2 years and 15 days to 1 year, respectively, according to the Diario de Cuyo.
Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.
