“Several lines are leaving the Argentinian market”

The cancellation of flights from abroad to Argentina has left thousands of Argentines stranded without knowing on what day they will be able to return to the country. For Peter Cerdá, regional vice-president of the International Airline Association (IATA), these restrictions imposed by the government generate that “several lines are leaving the Argentinian market”.

The IATA Regional Vice President highlighted the difficulties that currently exist with the national government, recalled that there is “no clarity on what will happen after July 9” when the last restrictions expire and has insisted that “this is not seen anywhere in the global fortnightly flights schedule”.

In addition, he compared what is happening in other countries: “The world is opening up, we are learning to live with the Covid.”

“Several airlines are leaving the Argentinian market, they are forced to do so because operating in Argentina is becoming something bureaucratic, difficult and expensive and the one who will suffer the most is the Argentinian who will have less connectivity with the rest of the worldIt’s a shame, ”Cerdá said in dialogue with CNN Radio.

“Leaving a market takes 30 minutes, flying again into a new market takes many years to materialize,” he added then underlined: “The government must change the rules of the game”.

Cerdá mentioned the cancellation of a meeting that was to take place this Wednesday morning with Santiago Cafiero at the Casa Rosada. “We had difficulty organizing the meeting with the Chief of Staff. The government approved a meeting with us, but with Cafiero’s tight schedule, he was not going to be there. From our point of view, Cafiero is the right person to handle this situation that the air system is alive but also the citizens who are outside the country ”.

“We are awaiting the meeting with the Chief of Staff,” Cerdá insisted.

He also stressed that they have worked “transparently with the Ministry of Transport during the pandemic” and stressed that “they have the best of intentions” but that “the final decision on the number of passengers does not come from them, it comes from above. “

“We want to work with the government in a action plan that is realistic, has anticipation, which we can program from here to two three months“He asked.

Then Cerdá declared that of IATA “the first priority is bring back the thousands of Argentines who are absent and without a return solution; the second priority is to find out what will happen after July 9 and planning new flights, new routes and connections is not something that can be done overnight, requires days of coordination and programming. The third priority is coordination with the Argentine government towards the near future ”.

“There are 10,000 Argentines who want to return to the country and cannot,” Cerdá recalled and warned that due to the cancellation of flights, passengers accumulate and add more people and that “Argentinian consulates will be collapsed by people who cannot return”.

“Poor Argentinian passengers are thrown across the world,” Cerdá concluded.

AFG