The Ambassador of Argentina to Qatar HE Carlos Hernandez has thanked Qatar Airways (QA) for its support during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in evacuating stranded Argentinian citizens from different parts of the world. In a statement released on Saturday, the ambassador said that Qatar Airways helped in rescuing more than 3,000 Argentinians who were stranded in South Asia and Australasia regions.

“When things started getting difficult due to the spread of COVID-19 globally, Qatar Airways’ commercial flights flew most of our nationals from these regions home,” he remarked.

Hernandez added: “Things had suddenly changed after the 27th of March when flights to Buenos Aires had to be temporarily suspended. An action to start modifying it took place towards the end of last week on the 7th of May, when a relevant number of Argentinian citizens were able to fly with Qatar Airways, from Doha to Sao Paulo in Brazil, and from there to the final destination Buenos Aires, connecting with our national airline.”

“It meant an important change and gave hope to the thousands of remaining Argentinians in the region. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the CEO of the Qatar Airways Group Akbar al Baker and to the Senior VP Fathi Atti for their understanding and immediate collaboration. Qatar Airways also evacuated Argentinians stranded in Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and also Qatar,” the ambassador added. “Currently, we are in talks with our national authorities and Qatar Airways, with the support of the Embassy of Qatar in Argentina, to explore the possibility of rescuing all the remaining Argentinians stranded in the region and taking them to Buenos Aires.

“This clearly shows the strong, solid bilateral ties and deep friendship between Argentina and Qatar,” the ambassador said, adding that Argentina decided to impose a lockdown an March 27, following which all the borders and airports were immediately closed.

He said over 35,000 Argentinian citizens were stranded abroad. Many Argentinian citizens were facing different types of problems, including lack of money to pay for their accommodation and food and the national

airline of Argentina managed to evacuate most citizens stuck in different parts of the world, the ambassador pointed out.

 

https://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/189041/argentina-envoy-tha...