The flights of Cabotage will begin to operate from the second half of July, with services between provinces and also to and from Buenos Aires and In this first stage, all operations will be concentrated at the Ezeiza international airport., because the Jorge Newbery Airport will be closed for works and El Palomar remains in an undefined situation, sources from the Ministry of Transport of the Nation confirmed today.
"We are preparing a schedule with Aerolíneas Argentinas that we will try to validate tomorrow with the Ministry of Health for the implementation of regular weekly flights., which will not have the frequencies of normal pre-pandemic, but the idea is to have between 32 and 38 weekly flights," the sources detailed and clarified that the opening will be "for all companies."
They explained that “at this stage all flights will operate from Ezeiza International Airport, because Aeroparque will still be closed for construction work and in El Palomar we have a situation that has not yet been resolved because on the one hand there is a request from the concessionaire to move operations to Ezeiza, due to the low activity and on the other hand there is still a pending legal matter.”
As for airport, the sources indicated that “We will take advantage of the pandemic break to carry out pending works, such as the expansion of the aircraft position area and the renovation of the landing strip. These works will be put out to tender in 15 days and the execution time will be 120 days, so we estimate that by December it will be operational again, already in its regional condition, as it was until April 2018, but including Peru.”
Returning to the situation of El Palomar, they argued that in the Ministry They do not see it as “reasonable” that three airports coexist for Buenos Aires, since, although they admitted that in terms of logistics infrastructure it is convenient due to the connectivity by rail, in terms of what has to do with air operations it is negative."
On the situation of the low cost carriers that were operating in El Palomar and the difference in operating costs between that air station and Ezeiza, they pointed out that they are "studying the creation of a low-cost sector in Ezeiza, with operating costs similar to those of El Palomar and, in addition, we will try to strengthen the land connection with the airport by adding services that enable a functional transfer to meet the needs of passengers."
Sources confirmed that There will be “a single security protocol for all airlines”, something that “Aerolíneas Argentinas has already made a lot of progress on, as it is putting it into practice with its special flights and which provides security to the passenger” and they pointed out that, within this protocol, it is contemplated that Aircraft capacity is up to 70 percent occupied, for which they are working with the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) for its implementation.
"In any case - they warned - we do not consider that, in this first stage of reopening, travelers will reach that percentage, since People will have to regain confidence in flight“And to do this, we must continue working with airlines and airport operators to ensure that the virus does not spread.”
In this regard, they pointed out that “we have not had any cases of contagion on the flights that are being operated. The problem is not the trip itself, but rather where you are traveling from and the conditions in that place. That is why we will be very careful in this reopening of the destinations to avoid having to turn back later.”
They expressed their “confidence” in the future of Aerolíneas Argentinas, because “when this is over and things return to normal, the situation of the air commercial market will be totally different from what it was and we are working with the Aerolíneas authorities to make it more efficient at that time.”
“There are talks with employees to achieve more and higher frequencies with the same staff, which would make it more efficient and reduce the State's contributions for its operation. Last year the company required 500 million dollars, when the Argentine Air Navigation Company (EANA) needs 100 million per year for the equipment of the airports,” they stressed.
They stated that “this period without operations has allowed us to put the company's planes in good condition, carrying out the maintenance they needed, so Aerolíneas is in a position to begin operating now. In the future, we will seek to grow in domestic and regional operations and we will analyze international routes based on the reality we will find when we return to full normality, something that we estimate will only happen next year.”
Finally, they insisted on the need to analyse the situation as progress is made on the planned steps, because “today we are seeing how the situation in Europe is gradually easing and we assume that this will also happen here before long, but we must not rush and take safe steps to avoid complications” and they were “optimistic” that the proposal for the return of domestic flights “will prosper and materialise on the date we have planned”.
Source: Telam
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