Repatriation flights

Foreign ministry to continue efforts to repatriate Romanian citizens stranded abroad by coronavirus.

Daniela Budu, 25.05.2020, 13:50

With
the state of emergency coming to an end in Romania and the country’s entering
the state of alert, hundreds of Romanian citizens have asked the foreign
ministry to help them with repatriation flights. The Romanian authorities
continue efforts to facilitate the return of the Romanian citizens stranded
abroad due to the restrictions to air travel imposed amid the coronavirus
pandemic.

Hundreds
of Romanian nationals have been repatriated over the last few days from France,
the UK, Germany and Spain and from cruise ships from around the world. The list
of people repatriated from France includes Erasmus students, persons whose
employment contracts were terminated, tourists in transit coming from the US and
resident doctors who had been training in France. The Romanian citizens repatriated
from the UK include students, people who had been in hospital and who benefited
from the support of the British authorities with the repatriation, homeless
persons and seasonal workers from Jersey Island. They have all returned to
Romania on charter flights operated by the Romanian state airlines Tarom.

A charter flight from Bucharest to Amsterdam
and back will be organised at the end of the month to bring back Romanian crew
working for the world merchant fleet. More such flights are being considered
from airports in the UK and Germany. Tarom has announced recently that it will
conduct flights from Bucharest to Rome, Milan, Madrid and Barcelona and back to
repatriate the Romanian, Italian and Spanish citizens who wish to return to
their countries of origin, following increasing requests to this end.

Since
the outbreak of the pandemic, several thousand Romanian nationals have been
repatriated, most of them from Italy and Spain, but also from China, the United
Arab Emirates, Israel, Cyprus, France, Morocco, Portugal, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Lebanon, Belgium and The Netherlands. These flights take place in the context
in which the Romanian authorities have extended a ban on commercial flights to
and from a number of countries by the end of the month. Also, all persons arriving
in Romania from abroad are ordered to quarantine or isolate at home for 14
days. People may choose to be in quarantine in the special facilities organised
by the authorities. (CM)