Colombia and Venezuela begin, again, to share their skies from this Monday, November 7 at 5:00 pm, with the arrival of the airline turpial, from Caracas, to El Dorado airport, Bogotá, after two years of suspension of routes between neighboring countries.
“After many years, the air operation between Colombia and Venezuela is reactivated with a great celebration. The Turpial flight will be the first with which the entire air operation is reactivated”, said the Minister of Transport of Colombia, Guillermo Reyes.
(See: Inflation in Venezuela fell 22.5 points in October and stands at 6.2%).
This fact occurs despite the intrigue that existed about whether there was going to be a connection on the planned date, since the Venezuelan airline had not officially submitted the request for this flight to the Civil Aeronautics of Colombia.
Despite the fact that time was against them, Turpial processed, this Saturday, November 5, a priority request for this flight, with which a technical and administrative team from the Aerocivil studied and accepted this request for a passenger and cargo charter flight.
For Humberto Figuera, president of the Venezuelan Airline Association (Alav), this first connection represents an important milestone in the commercial aviation history between the two countries, expanding the spectrum of connection between both and promoting free competition between airlines.
(See: The keys to the first meeting between Petro and Maduro: what they talked about).
“After all the political impasses, after the closure of air operations in Colombia and Venezuela due to the pandemic, after the disagreements when the option to restart air operations was announced, having a first flight opens a path for airlines ( …) There is a good attitude in both the Colombian and Venezuelan Civil Aeronautics to give space to competition, which is the most important thing after safety”, the expert told Portfolio.
In addition, he highlighted the geographical importance of Bogota to be a point of connection with other cities in the world from Venezuela.
(See: Request that the US made to Colombia to help with Venezuela).
“There are places where we do not have direct flights. For example, going to Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, via Bogotá is many times more friendly than going by other routes.“, he pointed.
Turpial Airlines.
And the flights from Colombia?
As confirmed by the Ministry of Transport, this Wednesday, November 9, the Colombian airline Satena will have green light to land on Venezuelan soil by charter flight.
“We hope, in the coming days, to establish new itineraries and to know how the flights will operate per week and, of course, to evaluate the entry of Avianca, Wingo and Latam airlines to start operating. Likewise, airlines such as Laser, Avior and the eventuality of Conviasa can”, Minister Reyes pointed out.
(See: Petro and Maduro discussed the return of Venezuela to the CAN).
The three airlines that operate in Colombia, although they already have the approval of the Civil Aeronautics to operate towards the neighboring country, must wait for the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (Inac), of Venezuela, authorize them to start flying.
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