International flights in Colombia return: what will be the requirements and protocol

Starting next September 21, international flights will be reactivated in Colombia, which represents a major challenge for health authorities when it comes to preventing the coronavirus from finding a new gateway that triggers infections in the country.

For this reason, strict biosecurity protocols have been established, which are similar to those adopted for domestic flights but with a few important adjustments.

The first of them will be the requirement of the Covid-19 PCR test with a negative result taken in a period no longer than 96 hours prior to the date of the flight.

This measure will become effective as of September 21, but What will happen from the first day of reactivation of international flights is that each traveler who arrives in Colombia will be tested for coronavirus and will be asked to quarantine for 14 days.

Another of the provisions adopted by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Health is that Each passenger who leaves the country must keep isolation for 72 hours prior to their trip.

In case of presenting any symptoms, the passenger will not be allowed to enter the plane.

According to the director of Migration Colombia, Juan Francisco Espinosa, in statements to Blu Radio, each passenger must have two applications downloaded to their cell phone: CoronApp and Check-Mig; the first launched by the Government for the monitoring of symptoms and real-time monitoring of Covid-19 cases in the country, and the second to facilitate immigration procedures.

Another aspect to take into account is that food and the use of the bathrooms will be restricted and will only be enabled for flights of more than two hours, the consumption of food will be done in rows and there will be a special bathroom for the crew. .

The other mandatory measures are the common ones: constant use of face masks, recurrent washing and disinfection of hands, and distance between people.

In this first stage of reactivation of international flights, the first approved routes will be United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala.

To open new routes, which will happen progressively, the reopening in the destination country, the operating capacity of the airports, the commercial interest of the airlines and the demand of passengers will be evaluated.

Since September 1, the day that domestic flights were officially reactivated, there have been some 1,300 flights in which more than 123,500 passengers have been mobilized.

International flights, for their part, have been restricted only for humanitarian cases. Only at the El Dorado airport in Bogotá, since the quarantine began, 656 humanitarian flights have operated. This will change as of September 21.

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