ROME: Italy’s transport links with other countries were thrown into chaos on Tuesday (Mar 10) – but not shut down totally – in the wake of the government’s drastic restrictions on travel to contain the coronavirus.
READ: COVID-19: All of Italy to be placed under lockdown, says PM
British Airways cancelled all its Italian flights on Tuesday while low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air said that they would be scrapping flights from Italian airports until early April.
The Spanish government said on Tuesday that it was suspending all air traffic from Italy for two weeks while Austria said it would be introducing new restrictions on arrivals from Italy.
However, at Rome’s main Fiumicino airport there were still services running to destinations in Europe and beyond on Tuesday afternoon, as well as to domestic Italian destinations.
Flights were also still taking off from the smaller Ciampino airport, used mostly by low-cost carriers.
READ: Commentary: Italy’s ‘darkest hour’: How a country-wide lockdown is generating divisions
Tourists welcomed the remaining opportunities to leave, although they were facing longer stays than anticipated.
Tourists are facing longer stays in Italy than planned. AFP/Alberto PIZZOLI
“We are going to be able to go back because we got a text from our flight,” Mina, a 58-year-old Indian national, told AFP next to Rome’s deserted Colosseum.
She and her family were awaiting further information from their airline, she said.
The ADR company which runs Rome’s airports said that all arriving passengers and all those heading for destinations outside the Schengen zone “will undergo health checks” and have to go through thermal scanners to try to detect any potential fever.
‘YOU’RE FOREIGN? GO, GO!’
As for rail travel, mask-wearing police at Rome’s main Termini train station were checking passengers’ reasons for travel and making sure everybody was keeping the recommended distance of one metre away from each other.
Passengers wait to be controlled by soldiers prior to accessing platforms and board trains at the Milan Centrale railway station. Miguel MEDINA/AFP
But the departures board was showing no sign of any cancellations.
Klemen Gartner, a 22-year-old seminarian from Slovenia, said that he was trying to get back home, “somewhere I can understand the language”.
He said that when station staff realised he wasn’t Italian, he was told: “You’re foreign? Go, go!” and waved through.
The service for Venice via Florence was only sparsely occupied but running nonetheless, with no checks for passengers on disembarkation at Florence, an AFP journalist reported.
Italy’s rail links with neighbouring countries are under more strain, with the Thello company cancelling its night services between Paris and Venice, as well as daytime trains between Milan and Marseille, until early April.
France’s national train company SNCF said on Tuesday it was “waiting for advice” about how to proceed regarding its services to Italy.
Since late February French staff on cross-border SNCF trains have been getting off before the Italian border and being replaced by Italian colleagues.
Austria’s national OeBB company has implementing similar measures for its staff.
OeBB has already cancelled its night trains to several Italian cities and said that further changes to its daytime schedules may come in the following days.
A spokeswoman for Germany’s Deutsche Bahn said that the only service it had linking it to Italy, between Munich and Venice, has also been suspended.
On Italy’s road borders the situation seemed more relaxed on Tuesday afternoon.
Cars were crossing the frontier with neighbouring Slovenia in both directions on Tuesday afternoon, an AFP journalist reported.
Italians in the area around the city of Trieste often make the short journey into Slovenia to do their shopping and take advantage of cheaper fuel.
But late Tuesday, Slovenia’s government announced it would close its border with Italy.
Austria said it was putting tough new restrictions on passengers arriving from Italy. On the land border between both countries, Austrian police were reported to be stopping people crossing from Italy to take their temperatures.
The wave of cancelled trips is raising fears for Italy’s tourism sector, which accounts for 13 per cent of GDP.
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