Every day the buses are waiting at the Marinus van Meelweg in Eindhoven. Dozens of small vans with German license plates are waiting for the arrival of the aircraft of the budget company Wizzair with seasonal workers. Little is seen of all measures taken. Passengers from the plane descend the stairs in a column and are then transported in packed vans by their temporary employers to large asparagus or strawberry nurseries.

For the rest of the day, the airport pretty calm. Around 9 am we see a Ryanair plane. Ryanair hardly flies anymore and Transavia keeps aircraft completely on the ground. In the morning and at the end of the afternoon still planes from Wizzair with Romanian and Hungarian passengers who do not care much about the large matrix board with the text to keep your distance which is displayed in the airport.

Romania is not part of the Schengen countries 

From Eindhoven Airport you fly with Wizzair to various destinations in Europe, but mainly to Poland and Romania. Eindhoven Airport has a scheduled service to these Eastern European destinations. The entry ban imposed by the coronacrsis was approved and introduced by the European government leaders. Travelers from outside the Schengen countries can no longer come to Eindhoven Airport. Romania does not belong to the Schengen countries, but this is currently not noticeable with the vans at the airport.

Asparagus finds its way to the consumer

The travel ban only applies to people, freight transport must continue as unimpeded as possible. Horticultural companies in question report that these workers are necessary to harvest the asparagus and strawberries in time. No corona crisis with these entrepreneurs when hiring cheap workers. 

What is the price we want to pay for the white gold? So we see again that despite all measures asparagus just finds its way to the consumer. There are even airline tickets offered to get the workers here because coming by car is no longer an option due to the closed border crossing. 

update 07/04/2020

Wizz Air has meanwhile suspended all routes between Romania and Great Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, until April 18. The measure is the result of new travel restrictions imposed by the Romanian authorities on all flights from Romania to these countries.

Also read: Even the supermarket at Eindhoven Airport is deserted