The International Air Traffic Association (IATA) recently mentioned that setting up a reliable flight schedule in Argentina is becoming increasingly difficult as the country’s government has tightened its regulations on international travel and allows only 1000 passengers every day, all of who have to be the country’s residents, according to media reports.
Last month, the Argentinian Government announced that it would only allow 600 international passengers per day. Even though it sparked a major outrage, nothing much has changed since then. The government increased the numbers of international passengers to 742 per day during July’s second week. Currently, they are flying 900 international passengers and, by July’s last week and August’s first, Argentina will allow 1000 international passengers.
While the numbers have been relaxed a little, only the Argentinian residents and citizens can enter or leave the country till August 6, but the deadline is expected to be extended further. Globally, governments are setting up new travel restrictions to contain the Covid-19 cases. For example, New Zealand recently scrapped the travel air bubble agreement with Australia over the rise in the number of new infections.
Peter Cerdá, IATA’s Vice President of Americas told the media, “Though the changes allow a minimum and gradual growth in the next few weeks, it is not enough to solve the issue of passengers stranded around the globe. Plus, the current deadline set on August 6 doesn’t allow airlines to confirm a flight date to its customers following that date. We continue without certainty and visibility on flight authorizations and capacities.”
Because of its travel restrictions, Argentina is losing $5.91 billion in PIB contributions from the airline industry. These new regulations also put as many as 43,000 jobs at risk and the country is also losing connectivity with over 107 city pairs.
Last year, Buenos Aires permanently lost connectivity with Auckland and Doha and Argentina has also temporarily lost flights with the UK, Brazil, and Chile. Additionally, LATAM Argentina has ceased operations entirely.