Coronavirus: the government is considering sanctioning two airlines for selling tickets without authorization

The Government analyzes sanction two airlines who sold tickets to Argentines stranded in different cities without authorization to make such special flights. One of the two companies involved, Copa Airlines, obtained permission this Sunday to make three trips “for humanitarian purposes.”

The National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) clarified that the airlines that want to perform trips to bring Argentines who cannot return to the country due to the coronavirus crisis must be authorized by the Government, after completing a series of sanitary requirements and protocols.

“We are meeting companies that organize flights that without being previously authorized They board passengers and then inform them that ANAC does not allow them to fly. What they do not communicate is that they never made the request for authorization, “explained Paola Tamburelli, head of the organization.

The Government particularly named the airlines Goal, from Brazil and Copa Airlines, from Panama. “This type of situation has been detected on more than one occasion, on flights of the Copa and Gol companies, which make passengers who are called desperate board,” ANAC continued.

Consulted by TN.com.ar, from Gol they did not make statements. Copa, for its part, assured that it obtained this Sunday authorization from ANAC to make three special flights to repatriate Argentines.

“We have to understand that there is a decision by the health authority to restrict entry to the country, so each flight must be analyzed and approved previously; each of them is an exception to the general rule, ”said the head of ANAC.

According to data from the Foreign Ministry, there are Argentines stranded at airports in Madrid, Paris, Rome, Mexico City, Lima, Bogotá, Miami and New York, from where special flights depart periodically to repatriate them.

The chancellor Felipe SoláIn any case, he has already clarified that there are possibilities that a part of the stranded Argentines “have to stay”. And he particularly targeted those who left the country days after the coronavirus has been declared worldwide as pandemic.