Systematic repatriation of residents from the Netherlands starts
From Tuesday May 12th, 2020 residents of Bonaire are systematically repatriated from the Netherlands. Over 80 people who registered in the Netherlands qualify for repatriation. These 80 people are repatriated in controlled tranches through a direct layover on Curacao.
Mid-April the first repatriation flight from the Netherlands was organised to repatriate people with a vital profession and to have them support the fight against coronavirus. Now that these people are out of quarantine, the repatriation taskforce is focusing on the systematic repatriation of residents of Bonaire who were stranded in the Netherlands and the people who want to return via the Netherlands.
It was decided to weekly, as long as this is possible, repatriate a number of people from the Netherlands in a controlled manner. As a consequence there is a continuous flow of repatriates to the island. They fly to Curacao on a weekly KLM flight. There they shall, with consent of the authorities of Curacao and the Island Governor, transfer ‘wing-to-wing’ to a charter flight to Bonaire. This means that people do not enter Curacao, but immediately transfer on the platform.
By repatriating people from the Netherlands in a controlled and systematic manner, the local medical care and the shelter capacity are not overburdened. It offers the prospect of repatriation for all residents of Bonaire who were stranded in the Netherlands. At the same time, it consequently remains possible to adequately repatriate residents from elsewhere, on an ad-hoc basis.
The order in which residents are repatriated from the Netherlands takes place on the basis of established objective criteria. One of these criteria is that people are already in possession of a return ticket to Bonaire and the date until that ticket would have been valid. With the present planning the repatriation taskforce aims to have most of the residents back on Bonaire at the end of June. The progress of this process does, however, completely depend on the development of the situation worldwide.