Aerocivil’s notice: it will not accept flight cancellations due to fuel issues

In the midst of the possible aviation fuel shortage in Colombia, situation that was reported in recent days, Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil) He notified commercial aviation companies operating in the country that flights cancelled due to this situation will not be accepted.

(See: Avianca stops selling tickets for some flights amid fuel crisis).

The entity’s argument is that, to date (Monday, August 26), It has been verified that there is sufficient supply of aviation fuel.

“Considering that, to date (August 26) it has been proven that there is sufficient supply of aviation fuel, Aerocivil allows itself to inform commercial air service operators that flight cancellations attributed to this circumstance will not be accepted.“, the entity said on its social network account X.

He insisted that, based on the evidence collected, There are stocks of jet fuel A1 (or jet fuel) in the country “in the wholesale chain and available to airports, to support the operation of commercial air service aircraft“.

(See: Why are some airlines restricting ticket sales?).

And he invited users to report cancelled flights to the Superintendency of Transportation, “present at the country’s airports. Aerocivil’s intermediation staff at airports will be at your disposal to guide you“.

“Air transport users are reminded that, in accordance with Aeronautical Regulations, any commercial air services company that cancels a flight for reasons attributable to it, without informing the passenger in sufficient advance, and does not direct all passengers to another flight of its own or another airline to be transported within the following 3 hours, is committing an offence.“, he added.

What the airlines say

Aerocivil announced its position regarding the cancellation of flights after it became known that some airlines were going to cancel flights.

(See: What are airlines that raise ticket prices exposed to due to fuel alert?).

Latam Airlines, for example, reported that due to fuel supply restrictions it would cancel 36 flights on Tuesday, August 27, “This is with the aim of optimizing the inventories declared by fuel distributors until the end of August.“.

“Of the four airports that declared a shortage for Latam Airlines Colombia, this Monday, August 26, the airports of Pasto and Leticia already have supplies to cover the rest of the month, as reported by the distributor. Additionally, they are working with Ecopetrol to provide updates on changes in the fuel delivery forecast, taking into account the normalization of production by Reficar.“the company added.

(See: ‘There is enough jet fuel to operate without problems for at least five days’: Ministry of Transport).

And he said that Readjusting the operation was necessary to avoid generating a snowball effect at the end of the month that would cause massive impacts to its passengers. “At Latam Airlines we will continue to monitor our operations and the availability of fuel declared by distributors to make any necessary adjustments,” said Santiago Álvarez, executive director of Latam Airlines Colombia.

The airline also made it clear that it will resume normal operations starting Wednesday, August 28.

Avianca, For its part, it had planned to cancel 69 flights, of which four would be international, according to Portafolio. However, the same airline stated, through a press release, that will fully resume operations starting Tuesday, August 27.

PORTFOLIO