Argentina looks to resume International Flight Ops starting October
 

This just out in La Nacion - one of Argentina's 2 leading newspapers.... sorry, only in Spanish.

https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia...bre-nid2443334

Developing news story...… apparently the first International flights will be regional. No further details as to EZE - USA operations.... I will come back with updates as they are announced.

Stay tuned.....

Star Alliance Lounge reopening

https://aviacionline.com/2020/09/eze...-nuevamente-2/

Now all we need is for our "great" Government to open the friggen' borders and allow tourists to come in.....

:rolleyes:

I don't know how many people will be rushing to a a "top 5" COVID country right away.

.......maybe those from the #1 COVID country.

Dont know what the DL and AA regulars have seen... but it appears that some companies have started to add frequency to their EZE flights, or....?

Only ones I know are expats...wanting to return or leave. I can't imagine holidaymakers being in any rush to travel anywhere....although the young uns might be up for it. We've more or less written off any idea of going to Europe next year nevermind what's left of this year.

Some news about domestic flights in Argentina
 

Some news about domestic flights in Argentina: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/arge...-flights.phtml:

Translated from Ambito.com October 15, 2020
 

Translated from Ambito.com October 15, 2020:

Flights are authorized, but not for everyone: who will be able to travel

The National Government enabled the resumption of regular domestic and international flights, which may begin to operate today after their publication in the Official Gazette, but for now tourism will be exempted and will only be for essential workers or for health reasons.

The measure was made official through resolution 221/2020, published this Thursday in the Official Gazette. The approval of the bus and long-distance train services remains, as was announced yesterday.

Yesterday, the Minister of Transport, Mario Meoni, announced the measure and commented that "in this first stage, trips will be limited to essential personnel or those who must travel for health reasons."

Meoni added that "from that moment on, the opening of regular flights comes into effect. Naturally, it is also necessary, obviously, an adjustment in time so that the frequencies are more common. It also has to do with the possibilities of demand and the Demand will be restricted because it is only allowed for essential workers and for health reasons. "

He warned in this regard that "the chief of staff, Santiago Cafiero, has the power to expand some particular issues, measures that could be taken in the future."

The official made the announcement this afternoon at the Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires, accompanied by the Minister of Tourism, Matías Lammens; the Minister of Security, Sabrina Frederic; the head of the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC), Paola Tamburelli, and the president of the National Transportation Regulation Commission (CNRT), José Arteaga.

In a contact with the media, Meoni clarified that the authorization, both for flights and for medium and long-distance ground services, was achieved through "the implementation of safe protocols and procedures to be agreed between the National Aviation Administration Civil, the National Transport Regulation Commission and the provincial authorities, in tune with the sanitary decisions of the Ministry of Health ".

"We," he said, "have been working with a single protocol for all areas that affect air operation, but that covers the flights themselves, then it will be the jurisdiction of each governor to decide on the conditions of entry and exit of passengers in their territories".

Regarding the will expressed by the leaders to have flights again, he pointed out that "in general, what I have been receiving from many of the governors is the will to start having flights. Naturally, not with the usual frequencies of daily flights, but at least have a weekly flight. "

"And in the case of those provinces that also have tourist activities, they are also interested in starting to operate, understanding that it is a way of generating confidence when there is a possibility of returning to tourism. Therefore, we understand that most provinces go to have connectivity from next week, "he insisted.

Precisely on tourism, Minister Lammens said that "although flights for tourists will not be enabled for the moment, we are convinced that in the short term it will also be possible to reactivate this activity. We are working towards that end."

Regarding international flights, Meoni clarified that "they will also be enabled this week, but always restricted to the use of Argentines, as established by the decree that is in force and that indicates that, for the moment, no borders are being raised."

In this regard, he pointed out that "we are working so that in a term of 30 days we can already have regular regional flights, with an opening to Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia, for example. But it must be taken into account that some of those countries still have restrictions on the entry of foreigners. "

With regard to long-distance bus services, the national official declared that "the frequency will grow gradually, although today there are no trips, in the prepandemic stage there were more than 2,700 trips per day that left from the City of Buenos Aires, for that reason in the framework of the whole country it was an important amount that we will gradually regularize ".

"We empowered the CNRT," he added, "to enable those frequencies to the different provinces and depending on whether each province accepts the determined income."

He remarked that "the frequencies will be covered according to the demand and epidemiological possibilities because we have given the provincial authorities the authorization powers, as requested by the President, understanding that there is an absolutely federal look. We understand that everything is ready. so that we can happily resume in Argentina the possibility of having connectivity ".

Within the conditions for travel, it is highlighted that users who use interjurisdictional transport services on regular passenger flights for domestic and international and bus and long-distance train services must have the Unique Enabling Certificate for Circulation - Covid 19 emergency.

Likewise, to guarantee sanitary security, the ANAC, the National Transportation Regulation Commission and the provincial authorities will agree on the implementation of safe protocols and the schedule of procedures for air operators to carry out and that are in tune with the decisions of the Ministry of Transportation. Health.

Its all still quite complicated and not at all straight-forward to understand.

The only thing that seems to now be confirmed is that starting November 2nd, Argentina will allow tourist entries (only by Air and Sea) from Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile. Entries by Land will - for the time being, remain closed for "standard" tourism visits. Tourists will have to provide negative PCR Tests and there are other strings attatched, but at least this seems to be an initial step in the right direction.

Not sure what this means for a US passport holder that has permanent residence in -say- MVD or GRU. I would guess that such a person would apply as a potential tourist that is allowed under this scheme, although I have not yet read the fine print.

This is a developing story... so stay tuned.

I'm surprised that tourists from high infection countries, such as Brazil, are included while for instance Asian countries that appear to have the corona virus under control are not. OTOH, if infections primarily affect slum dwellers in Brazil rather than those who can afford leisure travel, the risk could be lower than the overall numbers would suggest, just as come countries have infections concentrated in particular cities or regions. A PCR test with the sample collected days before travel doesn't seem very reassuring without followup testing and/or brief quarantine periods upon arrival. Also OTOH there might not be sufficient volumes of tourists from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea (or whatever countries permit their citizens to leave easily, AFAIK not including Singapore or Hong Kong for example) to sustain international flights. Perhaps most tourists to Argentina in normal times come from neighboring countries in South America.

Still, it's potentially a good start. It's clearly been tough for citizens and residents of Argentina who haven't been able to return for many months. It's also been tough for businesses in many sectors, especially those related directly or indirectly to travel and tourism. It will be interesting to see how this change impacts the exchange rate.

I've read that International tourists will be allowed into the country from 15th December (with a negative test on departure and test on arrival).

Only from news sources at the moment, nothing confirmed officially unless anyone has seen otherwise?

I'm set to arrive on 15th Dec so hoping we might get lucky and be allowed to enter!

https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentin...-tourism.phtml

"In coordination with the national government, the plan includes different testing instances to guarantee the care of international tourists (as of December 15) and national tourists (as of December 8), and residents of the City,” said a statement.

Here is the latest official decree (in spanish) from the government, that I know of. Keep in mind that in Argentina anything can change overnight.

Enjoy your trip!

Looks like 20 December now. I'm looking at a Timatic-sourced website with a 1 Dec update (that isn't allowing copy/paste). Exceptions are for nationals of the surrounding countries arriving by air and staying in metro Buenos Aires.
(The UA site now also shows the same information)