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Eight chartered flights were scheduled on Friday for takeoff from Otopeni Airport, three of them for the transport of Romanian workers to Germany, according to the spokesperson of the Bucharest Airports National Company, Valentin Iordache.
The flights are to Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, Stockholm, Malmo, Hamburg, Nurenberg and Dusseldorf.
"The flights to Athens, Stockholm and Malmo are regular flights. Barcelona and Madrid are special charter flights for repatriation, and Hamburg, Nurenberg, Dusseldorf - charters with workers," Valentin Iordache said, for AGERPRES.
The Madrid, Barcelona and Stockholm flights have already taken off.
According to Military Ordinance no. 8, of April 9, the measure to suspend flights by airline operators towards Spain and from Spain to Romania was prolonged for a period of 14 days, starting with April 14, 2020.
The measure does not apply to flights carried out by state aircraft, merchandise and correspondence flights, humanitarian flights or those ensuring emergency medical services, as well as non-commercial technical landings.
Furthermore, flights are allowed for all flight operators that hold an operating license in agreement with the European Union regulations, through charter flights, for the transport of seasonal workers from Romania to other states, with the approval of the competent authorities in the country of origin and destination.
On the other hand, the Transport Minister, Lucian Bode, ordered an investigation regarding the organization of the road transports to the airport from the residence counties of the citizens that were to fly from Cluj Airport. The Romanian Road Authority (ARR) and the State Inspectorate for Control in Road Transport (ISCTR) will verify the reporting of these occasional trips conducted by road transport operators.
Furthermore, according to a release from the relevant Ministry, the minister requested the drafting of a Minister's Order to regulate the procedure regarding the organisation of the groups of seasonal workers that are leaving from Romania to other countries.
The measures come in the context in which on Thursday hundreds of people that were leaving for Germany crowded on Avram Iancu International Airport in Cluj-Napoca, and Prefect Mircea Abrudean sent gendarmes to disperse them, in order to respect the social distancing measures imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Later, the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Cluj Napoca Court opened a criminal investigation for hindering the fight against disease in this case.
