Mr. Director:
In recent weeks, much has been discussed and discussed as to whether or not the state should assist large companies in the midst of the COVID 19 crisis, including airlines, causing different points of view and setting aside an analysis that to date has not considered altogether. Why not help?
Our aeronautical system is decisive in the integration of the whole territory and its population, with 47 national routes and 65 international destinations that unite us with the rest of the world, facilitating tourism, the transfer of people and goods, the development of business and productivity.
Air transport is a major creator of direct and indirect employment -airlines, airports, utilities, ground services, catering, travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, museums, tour guides, tour operators and many other people the vast majority in SMEs and medium-sized enterprises, supporting almost 200 thousand jobs.
Helping the airline industry is supporting a value chain that includes family-sized or corporate-sized companies in a wide variety of industries. Thanks to the possibility of covering great distances in just hours, domestic products such as salmon and fruits continue to be marketed abroad, generating significant benefits for our country and its people, jobs and development of Communities.
Airlines also play an important role in ensuring the supply, transfer of goods, medicines and medical supplies, organs for transplants, biological samples, medical and necessary personnel to more remote areas, so necessary in these Days. As well as currencies, valuated documents and entrusts. Without aviation there would be no repatriation, for example. Essential work that our airlines are fulfilling today.
We fully agree that the primary challenge is to prevent the spread of the virus, care for the sick and eradicate the pandemic. However, it is essential to keep the airline industry operating. Without it, vaccines and medicines will not arrive on time, supply, imports and exports, among other emergencies, will be limited,
Air transport is recognized worldwide as a catalyst for the economy, for its growth and development, foreign trade and foreign investment in the country, contributing US$7 billion to GDP, of which US$1.9 billion is attributable to tourism . Estimates say airlines will lose us$1.849 billion in Chile this year by directly committing 11,474 jobs in the country and up to 47,000 indirect jobs. The crisis will also hit the state, which will see its incomes reduced if labor force is lost, as well as compromising the country’s import and export sector.
I invite you to look like a whole when you talk about aviation. The value of aviation for social, economic and cultural development is invaluable. Seeing the row of aircraft parked at Santiago airport is not just an image for history, it is an alarm sign – lack of connectivity, unemployment and slow supply that, sooner rather than later, could affect all Chileans. Then why not help?
Gabriela Peralta
General Manager in Chile of the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
