By Juan Pedro Sanchez Zamudio
Peru’s International Flights Will Resume From October 5
On Friday 25 Sept. President Martín Vizcarra announced in a press conference that from Oct. 5, as part of phase 4 of an economic reactivation plan, international operations with neighboring countries will be authorized. Within the requirements for entering Peru, passengers are required to submit a negative result to the COVID-19 test (PCR-RT) carried out up to 48 hours before entering the country.
“The transport of passengers by rail, maritime and air transport is being authorized from Oct. 5, according to the specific regulations that will give the Ministry of Transport with the Ministry of Health,” stated the Peruvian President at a press conference.
President Vizcarra added that the first international flights will be between destinations that are safe from a “healthy location”. “We will start with some neighboring countries in the region. We have discussed that with some South American Presidents. We are going to begin flights with neighboring countries in the region and gradually, it will be made to other latitudes, but with all due care,” he pointed.
According to EFE, his announcement was made after confirming that the curve of hospitalized and deceased by the pandemic has begun to decrease since August.
On September 2, the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications Carlos Estremadoyro, announced that the operation of international flights, paralyzed since the closure of borders on March 16 to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be resumed from October. On that occasion, Minister Carlos Estremadoyro announced that Spain, United States of America, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Argentina may be the potential countries to resume operations after the closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As announced, the first travelers will be those with a professional or business purpose. In the case of tourism travel, the Peruvian government will wait until the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the country drop further.
In a dialogue with Gestión, the Vice Minister of Transport Eduardo Gonzalez stated that “before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima made 730 flights a week. Now due to biosecurity protocols that establish a lower frequency of entries and exits, there would be around 154, which represents approximately 21% of flights we had on a regular basis. Having 21% of the capacity represents an amount of 40,000 to 80,000 passengers per week”.
According to Infobae, with a population of 33 million people, Peru is the third Latin American country in COVID-19 number of cases behind Brazil and Colombia. It is also third in deaths after Brazil and Mexico. However, proportionally to its population, Peru has the highest death rate from COVID-19 in the world (98.68 deaths per 100,000 people), according to the ranking published by the Johns Hopkins University of the United States, a reference center.
The three things Juan Pedro loves most about aviation are aircraft, airports, and traveling thousands of miles in just a few hours. What he enjoys the most about aviation is that it is easier and cheaper to travel around the world and this gives you the opportunity to visit places you thought were too far away. He has traveled to different destinations in North, Central, South America and Asia. Born, raised and still living in Perú, Juan is a lawyer, soccer lover, foodie, passionate traveler, dog lover, millennial and curious by nature.
