The international airport group Grupo Aerportuario del Sureste, S.A.B. de C.V. (ASUR) has unveiled that total passenger traffic for July 2020 decreased 77.6% for the month of July when compared with the same month last year. ASUR has operations in Mexico, the US and Colombia. Passenger traffic decreased 74.7% in Mexico, 62.4% in Puerto Rico and 99.8% in Colombia as a result of a severe downturn in business and leisure travel stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neither Mexico nor Puerto Rico have issued flight bans, to date. However, in Puerto Rico, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has accepted a request from the Governor of Puerto Rico that all flights bound to Puerto Rico land at Luis Munoz Marin (LMM Airport), which is operated by ASUR’s subsidiary Aerostar.
Passengers arriving at LMM are imposed with a two-week quarantine, which can be avoided if they submit negative results of a PCR molecular COVID-19 test taken 72 ours prior to arrival. They can also opt to take the COVID-19 test in Puerto Rico (not necessarily at the airport) in order to be released from quarantine (estimated to take between 24-48 hours).
In Colombia, all incoming international flights are suspended until 31 August, with exceptions for humanitarian emergencies , the transportation of cargo and goods, and fortuitous events or force majeure. Colombian airports are due to reopen to commercial international flights on 1 September. Domestic air travel in Colombia has also now resumed following its suspension until 1 July. The Colombian government has delegated to municipal administrations the power to request approval from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Transport and Aerocivil (the aeronautical authority in Colombia) to resume domestic flights to or from their domestic municipalities. Both municipalities are required to agree in order to restart domestic services. As a result, ASUR’s airports in Colombia have not yet resumed domestic flights.
