Aerodom prepares airports to resume operations
General director of Dominican Airports XXI Century (Aerodom), Mónika Infante, assured that in the first quarter air traffic has fallen, airports in Latin America and the Caribbean have lost around US $ 700 million and some 430,000 employees have been laid off their work as a consequence of the covid-19 pandemic.
“The airports in the region are maintained with totally depressed traffic, although cargo operations are maintained, revenues have been suppressed for this period,” said Infante during her participation in the “Let’s talk about tourism” program, broadcast on YouTube and produced by Miguel Calzada León.
He assured that of the six airports in the country, there are two that are fully closed, two that are maintained for authorized operations, which are the one in Samaná and Puerto Plata, and two in Santo Domingo that operate at full capacity, but with little traffic.
He affirmed that a bigger picture will be difficult to predict, since there will be several months without income for the airports, however the fixed expenses remain.
“But we are confident that all this will happen and we will be able to return to normal when the authorities authorize it and the borders are opened under the new rules, traffic will return to the same levels as last year,” he added.
Infante said that in the first stage, airports will be taking measures to protect both passengers and employees.
She stressed that the measures for reopening have been strengthened, such as the use of masks for passengers and employees, distance in the lines, more hygiene in security checks.
In addition, the luggage will be subjected to a special cleaning and the screening of passengers to enter the plane will be done in a more organized way.
Infante pointed out that Las Américas International Airport and La Isabela International Airport, which continue to operate, and will be the first to reactivate, due to its mixed traffic.
“The airlines that are ready to start operating as soon as the measures are lifted by the authorities, to have a traffic that will grow gradually, until normalizing. Several airlines, especially those in the United States, have flights scheduled for the beginning of June and are selling them through their platforms, “he specified.
She argued that airports that are more dependent on tourism will require a little more time to reactivate and normalize, since they depend on the work of selling the destination and the packages of the tour operators.
“In the case of the airports of Puerto Plata and Samaná they will be reactivated closer to the end of the year or beginning of 2021, although they will be available for whatever is required,” she said.
Role of the authorities
The CEO of Aerodom explained that the Dominican authorities, especially the General Directorate of Migration and the Ministry of Public Health, play a fundamental role in preventing the spread of the virus when tourists arrive.
“Regarding the measures that will be taken when a passenger enters the country, if they are going to do a temperature check or are going to be isolated somewhere for some type of examination, which is foreign to the role of the operator airport ”, he explained.
Shee stated that the authorities are in charge of taking measures with people who present symptoms and methods used to identify those infected.
Infante pointed out that Aerodom will guarantee the spaces so that the authorities can do their task. In addition, the institution will be in charge of cleaning the facilities and the information that passengers need in a terminal to act with safety.
She assured that it is important to see the measures taken by international airports to be able to apply them in the Dominican Republic.
Source: El Dinero
May 24, 2020
Category: DR News |