Airplanes from Spain are no longer allowed to land in the Netherlands. The government has added Spain to the list of countries against which it has banned entry into the Netherlands. Italy, China, Iran and South Korea were already on that list.
The expansion is necessary because Spain is now also a high-risk country in the field of the corona virus. The ban started tonight at 8 p.m. and will last for a fortnight. Medical personnel and patients are admitted.
Flights for the repatriation of Dutch people can also continue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says. “The airlines keep the opportunity to fly to bring Dutch residents to the Netherlands. In our contact with the airlines they have indicated that they want to continue flying to give the Dutch the opportunity to return.”
“Struggling with decisions”
Transavia says that a number of scheduled flights may continue. This includes three repatriation flights from the Canary Islands. 400 to 600 Dutch people would return from there.
KLM says that there are still a number of flights to Spain tomorrow: you can still enter the country. “On the way back to the Netherlands, KLM will also take the Dutch back with us, we are making a ‘repatriation flight’ out of that.” The spokesman cannot say how many Dutch people will fly back from Spain.
Every year, according to estimates by the Dutch embassy, more than 100,000 Dutch people are partly in winter in Spain, on the Costa Blanca about 60,000. Many have already left.
Earlier this week, it was estimated that there were between 15,000 and 20,000 elderly people who ‘live there’, says correspondent Rop Zoutberg. In addition, there is a large number of tourists. “On the Costa Blanca alone, there will be many thousands more,” says Zoutberg.
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