March 18, 2020, 1:22 p.m.
–
The Corona return campaign for Germans stranded abroad commissioned by the Federal Government has started. Lufthansa, Condor and Tuifly bring the first tourists back. Foreign nationals are sometimes taken on the outbound flights.
© dpa
/ Emilio Morenatti / AP
The largest return campaign for Germans from abroad in the history of the Federal Republic has started.
On Wednesday afternoon, the first machine chartered by the federal government is to land in Munich with vacationers stranded in Tunisia due to the corona crisis. According to the Federal Foreign Office, two machines from Egypt in Munich and three from Morocco in Frankfurt am Main will follow. The first plane with tourists is scheduled to take off from the Philippine capital Manila on Thursday evening.
In the past few days, numerous countries had closed borders and cut flight connections due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Since Germany has become one of the main risk countries, citizens are particularly affected by the restrictions.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced on Tuesday to charter 30 to 40 aircraft from Lufthansa, Condor and Tui in order to bring back Germans from countries from which there are no longer scheduled flights. The federal government plans to spend up to 50 million euros on this.
The return flights of German vacationers from abroad should also be handled via Leipzig / Halle. But it is still unclear how many planes with tourists brought home will land at the airport, said airport spokesman Uwe Schuhart on Wednesday.
Foreign citizens are taken on one-way flights
The machines were fully staffed during the return campaign, Condor said. Citizens of the destination countries would also be transported on the outbound flights. In addition, one is in contact with the respective governments.
In a mixture of its own flight program, return flights by the organizers and the “government’s airlift”, Condor will bring back around 50,000 vacationers in the next few days, the spokeswoman said. Other return flights are being examined, for which many pilots and flight attendants would have volunteered.
“People are extremely relieved,” said a spokeswoman. In some target countries, such as the Dominican Republic, it was initially said that no planes from Europe were allowed to land at all. In the meantime, however, the obstacles have been clarified.
Return campaign has clear priority
With Tuifly – including offered special contingents and additional machines – about 10,000 passengers would be brought back to Germany, as a company spokesman said. This also includes return flights that were previously planned by Tui itself.
Tui had already canceled flights abroad on Monday night – as had the majority of the entire program of package tours, cruises and hotel operations. The return campaign was “a clear priority,” the company said. It is primarily about Germans in Egypt and Spain. At the beginning of Tuesday, Tui offered ten additional flights from both countries. Ten special flights are also planned for Wednesday and Thursday.
There are five special machines from the Egyptian seaside resort of Hurghada to Berlin-Tegel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hanover and Cologne during the day. From Spain there would be four extra connections from Palma de Mallorca and one from the Canary Island of Fuerteventura. Regular return flights from other Canary Islands would continue to be served.
–
