The Aruba Airport Authority (AUA) is preparing for a “possible restart” of regular operations at the airport for as early as June 1.
Despite the fact that Aruba Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes announced a restriction for commercial air travel until May 31, 2020, airport leaders are preparing for air traffic in the event she doesn’t extend the restrictions.
“AUA has prepared a plan to be able to receive in a safe and controlled way (in the first instance, small volumes) regular scheduled air traffic as of the 1st of June 2020,” airport officials told The Caribbean Journal.
Air traffic operations wouldn’t just resume as normal. Instead, the restart plan by AUA would be rolled out in four phases that would ensure welcoming visitors in a safe and controlled manner.
The four phases consist of the pre-restart phase; the soft-restart phase; the close-to-normal operation phase, and the business-as-usual phase.
During the initial phase, visitors can expect to see a number of safety guidelines, including social distancing, capacity restrictions, and transparent shields at check-in counters, just to name a few.
“While we all might hope for a speedy return to our normal operations with pre-COVID volumes, we must be aware that this might not happen in a few months,” the AUA added. “It is hard to predict at this point in time when the Business-as-usual phase will be reached but full recovery can take a long time.”
