Information for our clients
In the tourist destinations such as Santiago, the North of Chile, and the Lake District as well the South Patagonia, the situation is back to normal. All services can be provided without any limitations, the infrastructure is in good condition. Also the region of Santa Cruz is coming back to normal. Several wineries started to attend again (with small changes). The hotel Santa Cruz remains closed till further notices, but meanwhile we can recommend very nice alternatives of smaller hotels in case needed. The Southern part of the Pan-American Highway from Santiago till Temuco is operative, but still with some detours. Authorities inform that they estimate that reparation will be completed in about 3 month. Airport Santiago: The Airport Administration informed that approx 95% of the operations are reinstalled. They estimate that the terminal building will be operating normally (100%) in a few days. The affected region around Concepción, which is not included in any of our tours, is still suffering from the damages. SAT is supporting the people in this area. In case you are interested in more information on special aid projects, we are happy to provide it. Your SAT CHILE TEAM email: info.scl@southamericantours.com © South American Tours |
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Airport Santiago: Slowly started yesterday the normal function of the airport Arturo Merino Benitez in Santiago. From the airport we got the information that the arrival and departures of domestic and international flights will start to operate partially 24 hours a day.
All domestic flight arrivals and departures will be operating out of a makeshift terminal set up in tents located to the east of the airport’s old terminal. International flight departures will move to the domestic flights sector of the current terminal. International arriving passengers will clear Chilean customs and immigration formalities in a makeshift facility set up in tents to the west of the current terminal. Today the airport authority informed that the airport is operating already 50%, and they estimate to work with full capacity (about 24.000 passengers per day) in about to weeks. This for sure depends on how the reparation works at the airport terminal building continue. Meanwhile, Lan Chile put in operations today 50 % of their regular flights, figure that will increase gradually (yesterday the airline operate 25 domestic flights and 13 international flights from Santiago headquarters). Iberia, and Air France do have already flights departing to Europe. TAM informed that they will operate normally from March 06th on. Several US airlines are already operating flights from / to Santiago. Please contact ALWAYS the airlines in order to reconfirm departures and arrivals.
Important: At least till March 07th, LAN Chile is giving priority to Chilean citizens on domestic flights. In case you have passengers with national flight tickets, please reconfirm with LAN if the “regular” flight with the mentioned flight number in your booking will be operated, because at this moment the domestic flights are confirmed inside Chile with “alternative” flight numbers, which are not the regular flights as per your original booking. Foreign passengers with booked flights will be accommodated on the “alternative” domestic flights as per availability, which makes at this moment the operations of our programs difficult. Service can be provided in many cases as planned, with small changes, but the connection from Santiago inside Chile is still difficult. This should change from Monday 08th on. We will keep you informed. Regarding the damaged regions we are still gathering further information, and will keep you posted. In case you have questions regarding specific areas, future programs or bookings, don’t hesitate to contact your account executive or SAT Chile under info.scl@southamericantours.com. Thanks all of you for your patience and your kind words during those difficult days. Best regards SAT CHILE TEAM © South American Tours |
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Dear friends,
First of all we, SAT Chile, would like to thank you all for your support, nice words and patience during the last days. Since the earthquake happened last Saturday, our staff in working almost 24 hours per day assisting our affected passengers travelling around Chile, and giving the most information possible to all our clients who are worried about their passengers. We hope you all received our last mailings; today we would like to give you a follow up about the current situation in Chile.
Santiago Airport: Regarding our previous communication, Santiago Airport was closed (only certain arrivals with prior immigration in Iquique have been allowed) due the recent earthquake, but since today it was opened for outgoing planes. There are huge tents on site for the immigration and security issues (please see photo attached). The situation at the airport is chaotic, and we advise our passengers to stay calm and watch their bags. As it is almost impossible to receive serious information via phone from LAN or Civil Aeronautic, we do have one of our local guides directly at the airport during the day (also tomorrow), and he is in contact with our office informing news from the airlines, and assisting the passengers ready to depart.
We have also received certain communication from the airlines to verify the status of their flight operation. Find below the information given for one of them at this stage:
Lan Chile: since today they operate national and international departures. We managed to get several passengers out to Europe, US and Punta Arenas today with LAN flights. On their web site they publish the planned departures per day, but this list is updated at any time and passengers would need to reconfirm if they are on they mentioned flights. Hotline of LAN is completely overloaded, so we recommend our passengers to go stand by to the airport, because is the only possibility to get a boarding pass. Our local guide at the airport assists and in case they cannot aboard the flight, we assist to get them back to the hotel Note: Lan does not sell any new ticket on the spot till Sunday, March 07th.
American Airlines will resume commercial flights to Santiago on March 3rd. officially confirmed. We are waiting for further details. Air Canada, informs us that the Santiago/Buenos Aires flights will resume on March 8th and flights to Santiago will resume on March 3rd. We are waiting for further details. Delta Airlines, unofficially, plans to resume flights to Santiago on March 3rd. Iberia, information is not available meanwhile here in Santiago. We were advised to call tomorrow morning to check if any news Tam, no information about its flights Airfrance, informed that they will have the first flight leaving SCL on March 03rd at 21.00 hrs (AF4190)
We will keep checking the status of the arrival and departs flights from/to Santiago Airport, as far as we get any news we will forward it to all you.
IMPORTANT – LAN TICKETS: OUR IATA OFFICES INFORMED THAT ALL TRAVEL AGENTS IN CHARGE OF THE TICKETS FROM THEIR PASSENGERS NEED TO REACTIVATE THE BOOKING. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LAN SALES OFFICE / MANAGER!!!
Hotels: As per hotels communication, the only hotel in Santiago affected and closed at this moment is the Radisson Ciudad Empresarial, and the Holiday Inn Airport, till further notice. Outside of Santiago hotels like the Salto de Laja or Holiday Inn Concepcion are not 100% operative.
In general: As you know the most affected part of Chile are the cities closest to the epicenter, including Concepcion, Talcahuano and Temuco as well as a number of small towns along Chile’s central coast were most affected by the quake. In some cities like Concepcion and Curico the government imposed “dusk-to-dawn curfew”, due to plundering at supermarkets, stores, etc
Services / Excursions affected: Santiago: City tour will NOT INCLUDE the visit of the Pre-Columbian Art museum and the San Cristobal hill, as they are closed. Several wineries are still closed, same as restaurant. As mentioned formerly services in Pto Varas, Punta Arenas, North of Chile, Easter Island are running without problems. Services in Temuco itself can be offered without problems, but the road from Santiago till Temuco is still damaged and can be made only with several detours, road is not safe at all.
Note: We know that you might see on television situations of plunder also in Santiago. Please take note that these are punctual situations in certain neighbourhoods. The security of our passengers in not affected, and we check each day prior each service the situation in Santiago.
Additional Info: Star Princess called today the port of Valparaiso. Due to the uncertain situation of the airport, they will stay at site till Thursday, March 04th, and realize a second disembark from 10.00 am till 12.30 hrs, offering “hotel service” from today till Thursday for passengers that still could not fly out today. Please take not the cruise ship is now on shore and not calling at the pier till March 04th.
Isla Juan Fernandez / Robinson Crusoe Island: you might have heard that the Island suffered a Tsunami hours after the earthquake that destroyed big part to the village of Robinson Crusoe. There are still several persons missed.
All mentioned information can change daily; we try to keep you posted always as soon as possible.
In case you have any further question, don’t hesitate to contact us under info.scl@southamericantours.com, or directly your account executive.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
SAT Chile TEAM
© South American Tours |
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Today, February 27 at 3:34a.m., a strong earthquake hit Chile, with 8.8 on the Richter Scale. The epicentre was about 115 km north-east of the city of Concepción in central Chile and 325km south-west of the capital of Santiago. Until now, 19 replicas of the earthquake have been reported. The death of approximately 120 people have been reported, numbers are rising. The quake caused widespread damage, destroying buildings, bridges and roads in many areas. Chile's President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in affected areas. The situation in Santiago de Chile is fine, considering the circumstances. Right now, telephone communication as well as Internet is failing and communication is hard to get. Our office in Santiago de Chile is contacting every passenger currently travelling in Chile and have reported that all passengers currently travelling in Chile are not harmed. None of our passengers were anywhere close to the epicentre. Some hotels in the centre of Santiago are slightly damaged. The airport area has been damaged and will stay closed at least for 3 days. Flights arriving to Santiago de Chile will be redirected to other airports, most of them to Mendoza and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The neighbouring countries Peru and Ecuador as well as Argentina have not been affected. After the earth quake a Tsunami warning was issued for Chile and Peru and a Tsunami watch for Ecuador; this warnings were withdrawn in the later afternoon. In Galapagos/Ecuador, all visitors and inhabitants of the Galapagos Islands have been evacuated to the highlands of the corresponding island in the early morning. When the warning was cancelled, everybody was transported to the villages again. Cruise passengers stayed on board of the ships. Most of the activities today in the morning have been suspended for safety reasons. The airports on the Galapagos Islands have been closed in the morning, but re-opened. As by local information, the flights left for the Galapagos Islands after having been delayed in Guayaquil for a couple of hours. We’ll keep you updated about the situation as soon as we receive any further news. In case you have any questions, please contact us under info@southamericantours.de Kind regards, Your SAT Team
© South American Tours
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