Santo Domingo, RD.
Airport authorities on Wednesday implemented new health checks at Las Américas Airport (AILA), which includes a military checkpoint, as part of preventive measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, amid an increase in foreign influx of passengers into the country. on the occasion of the Christmas holidays.
At the entrance to the terminal, a checkpoint has been set up on Route 66, a few meters from the facilities of Las Américas Airport, with military and police personnel supervising each vehicle to ensure that it does not carry more than the amount agreed by Public Health authorities.
The measure stipulates that only two people attend the airport to pick up a relative who arrives or leaves the country.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, long lines of vehicles were spotted in the place, whose drivers were waiting to go through military control and go to look for or take their relatives. However, in the early afternoon, the situation was reduced.
With this measure, public health authorities and airports seek to control the congestion of people in the passenger departure area and prevent the place from becoming a source of coronavirus infections.
Recently, it was reported that an excessive number of people gathered in the departure area of passengers who came to receive relatives who arrived from abroad for the Goodnight and New Year festivities.
INCREASES PASSENGER FLOW IN AILA
In the case of passenger traffic, according to unofficial data, over 160,000 passengers, mostly absent Dominicans, arrived in the country through airports licensed by Dominican Airports XXI.
Of this figure, according to the same preliminary data provided by the airport authorities, 87% entered through the Las Américas International Airport, José Fráncico Peña Gómez, where it goes from this month of December.
Most absent Dominican passengers come from New York, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Massachusetts and San Juan Puerto Rico.
The flow of passengers and flights from countries on the European continent, such as Madrid, Spain, Paris, France, Rome, Italy, the Netherlands, Havana, Cuba and the Caribbean islands, has also intensified.
Not only do they arrive, but also the fact that the order of departure many people take advantage of the Christmas period to travel on vacation abroad.
Airline counters located on the second level of the terminal register an unusual presence of passengers lining up to check their documents at the airlines to leave the country.
Most travelers go to cities in the United States and Europe with their wives and minor children to enjoy the good night and New Year’s Eve.
PARKING INSTALLATIONS
The aerodrome also ordered the installation of five new parking devices in order to streamline the process of loading and exiting passengers in the parking area, as well as extending the grace period from 15 to 45 minutes in the parking lot.
With these facilities, passengers with their vehicles can get out of the airport parking area faster.
During Christmas, in that area of the terminal, there are long lines of passenger vehicles returning to the country, from different points abroad, essentially when two and three flights arrive at the same time.
COVID-19 PREUBS FOR PASSENGERS
In applying the sanitary measures in AILA, the Ministry of Public Health receives the collaboration in the personnel process from the General Directorate of Migration, measuring the temperature, ensuring the physical distance and ensuring the use of the masks by the passengers.
The general manager of Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo 21 (Aerodom), Monika Infante de Henríquez, stated that the random tests performed by the public health staff cover terminals B and A that operate at the airport.
“At this time the government, through the executive director of the airport department, Victor Pichardo, has toured all areas of the airport, supervising and verifying the areas where tests against Covid-19 are applied to passengers,” he said.
He added that the average number of random tests is 15%, but that they can be increased during peak hours, with high traffic and reduced during low traffic hours to guarantee a maximum of 15 minutes in the waiting area.
INCREASE SAFETY IN THE WING
At the terminal, the officers of the Specialized Tourist Security Corps (Cestur) and the Specialized Corps for Airport and Civil Aviation Security (Cesac) were raised to speed up the flow of flights and to ensure compliance with protocols.
While in the passenger waiting area and around the airline’s searchers on the second level of the terminal, a greater presence of agents from Cesac, Cestur and the National Police could be observed on Wednesday.