Passport chaos, cancelled flights and air operators' strike: the tense week at Jorge Chavez Airport

Thousands of people use Jorge Chavez International Airport every day to travel to both domestic and international destinations. And precisely at Easter is one of the times when there is most traffic. However, in recent days we have seen a series of events that disrupted the regular flow of flights.

APRIL 5

Due to demonstrations throughout the country in protest of rising prices, the government issued Supreme Decree No. 034-2022-PCM which provided for compulsory social immobilization in Lima and Callao from 02:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. It was a measure of improvisation and without prior coordination, the same one that was not followed by a large number of citizens.

One of the concerns was for people who had booked flights. In a statement, the concessionaire of Jorge Chavez airport specified that Jorge Chavez airport maintained its operations normally. He recommended that travelers who have a scheduled flight, that they must carry their 'boarding pass' (boarding pass) and national identity card (DNI) with them. However, there was confusion among passengers and some of them missed their flights.

APRIL 11TH

A flaw in the migration system meant that passports could not be issued. There was a lot of congestion and chaos at the Jorge Chavez airport offices as hundreds of passengers were waiting for their ID to board their flights. Many of them were unable to embark, and many others had to pay penalties to reschedule their trips.

Hours later, it was reported that the printing of passports at Jorge Chavez International Airport was restarted after solving the problem in the system that generated large queues and discomfort among travelers who were unable to travel due to the lack of this document. “The issue is not the lack of notebooks but the lack of identification of the notebook system. It is already being printed at the airport, and we hope to resolve the contingency as soon as possible,” said the head of migration, Jorge Fernández.

Fernández said that work is being done on a project to be submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), which involves 301 million soles, which will allow the system of foreign suppliers to be updated and independent, and not rely on third parties to issue passports.

APRIL 14TH

About 1,500 passengers were unable to travel today to the different destinations they had scheduled within the country due to the cancellation of domestic flights caused by the strike of air operators, reported Lima Airport Partners (LAP), the concessionaire of Jorge Chavez international airport.

Rocío Espinoza, LAP's Reputation Manager, said that during the morning, flights going to destinations such as Cusco, Trujillo, Ayacucho and Tacna have been canceled.

“In the morning there are more than 15 flights canceled, I'm losing count. And up to 100 people can go on each flight. It is a major impact,” he stressed in RPP.

After a negotiation involving the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion, the strike was lifted. After the announcement of the lifting of the strike of air operators, canceled flights were rescheduled. However, you could see long queues of users looking to travel to national or international destinations. There are also people complaining about the delays.

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