We use cookies in order to improve our service.You will find more information in our Privacy Policies.Land and air borders were reopened to foreign travelers from countries on a list that includes the 26 European states in the Schengen area.Captain Thomas Jahn and the crew of a Lufthansa flight upon arrival at Miami International Airport from Munich, Germany.The International Airport of the city of Miami, in the state of Florida, one of the main tourist destinations in the United States, received this Monday (08.11.2021) the first vaccinated foreigners, including 293 passengers on a flight from the airline German Lufthansa from Munich.After a little over a year and a half of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the United States today reopened its land and air borders to foreign travelers from countries on a list that includes the 26 European states in the Schengen area.This afternoon the atmosphere in the airport arrival terminals was lively with the recovery of the usual transfer of passengers from Europe and the arrival of tourists and travelers eager to meet up with family members, as well as people with visas or nationals.The "travel ban" imposed by former US President Donald Trump in early 2020, and later confirmed by his successor, Joe Biden, became emblematic of the disruption caused by the pandemic.At New York's JFK airport, smiling passengers on the first European flight to land under the new rules entered the terminal to cheers and colorful balloons.The lifting of the restriction that had been demanded by the tourism sector has returned the airports to their usual hustle and bustle, without delays or significant incidents.American Airlines, the largest airline in the United States and the world, had more than 150 international flights scheduled for this Monday, 20 of them transatlantic, and the rest of the month will operate more than 200 daily flights on as many routes, to rise to 300 daily at the beginning of 2022, according to company figures.Executives from British Airways and Virgin Atlantic wave the British and American flags at London's Heathrow airport as the two airlines prepare for a synchronized departure on parallel runways to New York's JFK airport.For example, flights from American and its One World Alliance partners (which includes Iberia and British Airways) tripled from Spain this week and multiplied sixfold from the UK.Reflecting the anticipation for the reopening, currency exchange centers in Mexico's Ciudad Juárez, bordering El Paso, Texas, were affected by a shortage of dollars.Anticipating wait times of up to four hours, the Ciudad Juárez government put in place a special system to direct traffic, and installed portable toilets at the three border bridges.Across the United States, on the Canadian border, many seniors were celebrating being able to resume their annual road trips to Florida to escape harsh northern winters."We have butterflies in our stomachs," Daniel Francoeur, who along with his wife waited nearly seven hours to cross Ontario's Thousand Islands Bridge into New York state after leaving their home in the Ottawa area, told AFP. at 01:30 in the morning.The lifting of the "travel ban" benefits more than 30 countries, but the new entry may be a problem for others.Only vaccines approved by the United States FDA agency or the World Health Organization (WHO) will be accepted.For now, this includes AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Indian Covaxin, and China's Sinopharm and Sinovac.For many travelers from Latin America and the Caribbean, this is a limitation, either because they have not yet been able to get vaccinated in their countries due to a shortage of doses, or because they have not been vaccinated with any of these immunizers.Vaccines such as the Russian Sputnik V and the Chinese CanSino have not yet received the green light from the FDA or the WHO, but they have been applied in Argentina and Mexico, for example.The German government celebrated the entry into force of the lifting of 20 months of restrictions to enter the United States introduced by the coronavirus pandemic.More than thirty countries will be included in the lifting of this "travel ban", but entry will not be completely free.The Lufthansa airline group had an attributed net loss of 6,725 million euros in 2020 due to the great restrictions on flights to stop the spread of the pandemic.Cuba described the measure as a "limited step in the right direction," but stressed that "it does not modify" the embargo that has been in force for six decades.The amendment does not allow travel for tourist activities and Havana considers the step taken by Washington to relax measures "extremely limited."Airbus carried out this June 15 the first test flight of the A321XLR, the new version of one of its single-aisle aircraft adapted for long distances of up to 8,700 kilometers.The Russian Army continues to attack the Lugansk region, in eastern Ukraine, and especially the strategic city of Severodonetsk and its surroundings, where the invader's siege has already lasted for several days.The Azot chemical plant, in the strategic city of Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine, the last focus of Ukrainian resistance in that area, has suffered serious damage after the latest Russian bombardments.The EU considers it to be a "reliable" and long-term alternative to Russian exports, coming paradoxically from one of the most unstable regions in the world.© 2022 Deutsche Welle |Privacy Policy |Accessibility statement |Legal notice |Contact |mobile version