Passengers on a private jet coming from Colorado US were denied entry to the country at a customs check at Elmas airport in Cagliari, Italy.
There were about ten people aboard the plane. Five of them were in possession of American passports. The U.S. is not on the list of non- EU countries to which Italy has decided to open its borders, and the passengers were repatriated.
The remaining five passengers were from Italy, New Zealand and England. They could have stayed in Sardinia, following a mandatory quarantine for 14 days before being allowed to move freely. However, at around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday, they decided to return to the U.S. with their friends, out of solidarity.
Sardinia’s governor, Christian Solinas, spoke on the matter: “The region of Sardinia has no responsibility for what happened. Immediately, with the collaboration of the airport management company, we set to work – initiating urgent talks with the government, the Ministry and the Prefect – to find a solution that would allow American passengers to stay in Sardinia, even by submitting to quarantine,” said the Sardinian president.
“The singular restrictive interpretation of the rules by the Government, contrary to our ability to guarantee health security, in this case has again inflicted serious damage on the international tourism credibility of our island, and our sense of hospitality. We hope that in the next few hours there will be further efforts to resolve this matter,” concluded the governor.