The Executive agreed to increase the capacity of the airports in Lima and the regions, the number of flights, cruise tourism in Peru, and the opening of the borders of Tumbes and Tacna after the universal vaccination has been completed.
The decision was made yesterday after a meeting between Roberto Sánchez, head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), and the Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos.
“All the measures will be given under a strict biosafety protocol. Let’s reactivate tourism in a responsible way! ”, pointed out the Mincetur on his Twitter account.
Reactivation details
In dialogue with La República, Carlos Antonioli, operations manager of the Andean Airports of Peru consortium (APP), detailed how the authorities would proceed to apply the measure.
The spokesperson said that at an airport the capacity is measured in the room. Currently, the terminals managed by APP have an average capacity of 65% of their normal capacity.
This is due to the reduction of the spacing between passengers, which was previously 1.5 meters, now it is one meter, which gives an additional availability of space per passenger increasing the capacity on average almost 20% more than the current one, taking it to more than 60%.
“This increase allows us to increase the airport’s capacity and carry out a greater number of simultaneous flights per hour, depending on the infrastructure that the airport has.
For example, in the case of Arequipa we went from making 1.5 flights per hour to 3 flights per hour, in Juliaca to two per hour and, in general, in the smallest to 1 flight per hour.
This will allow, in general, to make more flights at the airport during its operating hours and, as a consequence, the increase in the number of passengers due to the greater offer that will be opened with this measure ”, Antonioli explained to this newspaper.
Although, at the end of this note, there was still no official information sent to the consortium, the leader assured that the additional 20% they have today will allow an increase in passengers by 5% on average per month.
Tourism in figures
According to the Mincetur, between January and September of this year, 221,746 foreign tourists arrived. Only in the ninth month, a total of 50,612 international tourists arrived in the country, which represented the highest number recorded since the closure of the borders due to the pandemic of the COVID-19. While the national travelers who traveled in the territory were 34.6 million.
Meanwhile, the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (Corpac) ensures that in the first nine months of 2021, the general movement of passengers amounted to 12.7 million, registering an increase of 33.6% compared to the same period of the year previous.
Only in September it totaled 2 million 41,083 passengers, an additional flow of 1.7 million people. 84.3% of the total was explained by domestic flights and 15.7% by international flights.
Tumbes and Tacna: news confirmed
The Peruvian government had already anticipated last August its intention to reopen the borders with the neighboring countries of Ecuador and Chile.
On August 29, during the ceremony for the 92 anniversary of the reincorporation of Tacna to the country, the president Pedro Castillo Terrones He recalled that many Peruvians from Tumbes and Tacna live off trade at the border crossings, although, at that time, he considered it appropriate to be aware that “everything had to happen in its time.”
The data
In charge. Andean Airports of Peru is the operator of the airports of Arequipa, Juliaca, Ayacucho, Puerto Maldonado and Tacna. In October they served 224,253 passengers on 1,877 flights.
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