Simultaneously with the request made by the Civil Aeronautics to the Ministry of Health on a concept to begin to reactivate international flights to and from the country, the aeronautical authority told the airline industry to prioritize the top five destinations with which aviation would start again to places abroad.
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As EL TIEMPO learned, in the exercise carried out by the airline industry, the prioritized countries were Chile, Panama, the United States, Ecuador and Peru.
However, industry sources indicated that, given the closure of Peru, a country to which the international operation will only return from December, The sector asked that the fifth destination to be included be Spain, which is by far the first destination from Colombia to the European continent.
Despite this prioritization, within the airline industry there is a need for the Government to specify to travelers, public opinion and the country in general that the return of the international operation will not be able to take place immediately from September 1, as planned and for which, for several weeks the airlines were authorized to sell tickets.
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This is because there are various complexities to reopen, including the approval of the destination countries in health matters and the full authorization of the countries to which you want to fly, but also at an operational level to achieve a critical mass of travelers, since the operation is profitable not only if there are outbound travelers, but also on return flights.
A consulted source explained to EL TIEMPO that most likely, given the rush of time since not everything is ready, The first flights that had been sold must be rescheduled until all the good views between Colombia and each country are available for their resumption., which could cause inconvenience for travelers with airlines.
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Previous analysis
As anticipated by EL TIEMPO, the Ministry of Health gave a favorable opinion to reopen the international air operation, taking into account the international health regime and the biosafety protocols issued by this portfolio, not a permanent monitoring of the epidemiological impact.
This concept indicates that since it is unlikely that flights will increase transmission more than the progressive opening allowed by the new emergency, “The conditions do not persist to maintain closed international flights to and from large capitals of the country”.
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In the letter from Aerocivil to the Ministry of August 19, under which it requested the concept and which was also known by EL TIEMPO, it is noted that of 26 countries with direct connections to and from Colombia, 21 have a lower rate of infection per every million inhabitants and 22, in the rate of new cases in the last seven days.
Regarding the countries requested by the airline industry from Aerocivil, the infection rate per million inhabitants is 15,719 in the case of the United States, 15,406 in Peru, 19,988 in Chile, 5,634 in Ecuador and 18,180 in Panama.
In the case of Spain, according to the document, in infections per million inhabitants the figure is 7,332.
ÓMAR G. SMOKED RED
Deputy Editor of Economics and Business
On Twitter: @omarahu
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