More than 1.5 million passengers will pass through the Santiago Airport

After the advancement of the winter holidays of this 2022, the Arturo Merino Benítez Airport in Santiago is preparing for an increase in the flow of passengers in the month of July. According to projections by Nuevo Pudahuel, whose main shareholders are VINCI Airports and Groupe ADP, around 1,550,000 people will travel on domestic and international flights using the country's main air terminal.

Tourism and in particular commercial flights were hit hard as a result of the pandemic, but there are advances that show the reactivation process that the sector is experiencing. At the beginning of July, the Santiago-Cuzco routes will be resumed, operated by LATAM and Santiago-Florianópolis by Sky Airline. To this is added the return of the route that connects Santiago with Barcelona operated by the Level airline, which will begin flying from October 31 of this year with four weekly frequencies.

“The new international terminal (T2) at Santiago Airport has considerably improved the travel experience and has shortened waiting times for national and international passengers. These have been difficult times for tourism and the airline industry and we see a path towards reactivation and that is why we are committed to connecting Chile with the world, recovering and opening routes, attracting new airlines, so that our passengers have more travel options. ”, assures Xavier Lortat-Jacob, General Manager of Nuevo Pudahuel.

“More than 1.5 million passengers will fly from Santiago Airport during these winter holidays. This supposes an additional effort of coordination between all the actors involved in order to facilitate travel. Together with the reinforcement of all the services that operate at the airport and also on the highways, where we are applying a new emergency protocol in case of accidents, it is very important that those who plan to travel can be informed and plan their vacations in advance”, emphasizes the Minister of Public Works, Juan Carlos García.

The Undersecretary of Tourism projects 4,716,928 frequent trips with overnight stays for the winter holidays, that is, 37.0% more than in the same period of 2021, and 81.5% more than in 2019.

“This date is very important for the industry, we believe it is a great opportunity to continue advancing on the path of reactivating the tourism sector. Our projection is that the average individual daily expense will be $42,432, so the total average expense of a 7-day trip will amount to 297,024 per person, directly benefiting micro, small and medium-sized companies in the sector and local economies in general. ”, assures Verónica Kunze, Undersecretary of Tourism.

The three main regions that generate trips during winter holidays will be the Metropolitan (1,832,031), Biobío (477,851) and Valparaíso (440,659), while the three regions with the highest reception of tourists will be Valparaíso (982,706), Metropolitan (833,702) and La Araucanía (400,823).

Tourism industry reactivation measures

Despite the fact that the passenger traffic figures at the Santiago Airport show signs of recovery, the levels prior to the pandemic have not yet been reached. In July 2019, 2,052,320 people traveled using the capital's air terminal, almost 500 thousand travelers more than what was projected for July this year 2022.

The balance for the first half of this year (considering a projection of June 2022) shows that 8,675,089 total passengers passed through the Santiago Airport, versus the 12,586,343 registered travelers in the same period of 2019.

To encourage the arrival of international tourists, the Government has announced new measures such as the homologation of vaccines in 48 hours for foreigners, the elimination of the US$30,000 health insurance as a requirement to enter the country and the updating of the protocol that exempts minors of six years to present an affidavit (C19) among others.

Recommendations for a greater flow of passengers at the Airport

• Check what products you should not carry in your handbag (sharp items, liquids of more than 100 ml.
• Check the travel conditions required by the country of destination.
• Check-in online if you do not travel with luggage in the hold.
• Arrive within 3 hours before to the airport for domestic flights and 4 hours before for international flights.If you don't have luggage to tag and you have your check-in done online, you can go directly to the security control.In the international terminal (T2), some airlines offer to tag and deposit your own luggage in Self Bag Drop machines. If this is the case, you will save time.
• Periodically check the boarding gate of your flight to avoid last minute confusion.