More than 30.5 million passengers were transported by air in Colombia in 2021, a year in which also 835,000 tons of cargo were mobilized, according to a balance released this Monday by the Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil).
(Colombia and Chile sign an agreement to strengthen air transport).
According to the agency, the reactivation of the air sector during 2021 exceeded the Government’s goals, which had planned to reach 30 million mobilized travelers, since 30,531,412 passengers passed through the country’s airports the previous year.
Of this total, 22,534,330 correspond to national passengers and the other 7,997,082 travelers are international.
This movement represents an average recovery of 74% compared to 2019, before the pandemic, in which 41,289,656 travelers were mobilized, the information added.
“This balance shows that air transport has been consolidating, gradually, as a factor in the economic reactivation of the country”, Transportation Minister Angela María Orozco was quoted in the statement as saying.
The airports that mobilized the most passengers were those of Bogotá, with 22,091,102 travelers; Rionegro (Medellín), with 7,916,646, and Cali, with 5,211,765.
(More than 20 million passengers have been mobilized by air in 2021).
Aerocivil also pointed out that in cargo transport the recovery was even better because the figures from before the pandemic were exceeded.
In 2019, 795,351 tons of cargo were transported in the country by air, and in 2021 that volume reached 835,564 tons, which represents an increase of 105%.
“Undoubtedly, cargo transportation has been essential for the economic recovery of the country, favoring domestic trade and Colombia with the world”said the general director of Civil Aeronautics, Jair Orlando Fajardo.
NEW INTERNATIONAL ROUTES
Aerocivil also highlighted that “2021 closed with 90 new approved international routes and 97 national ones, which provides users with more connectivity options with different destinations inside and outside the country.”
He also pointed out that last year the country signed 21 agreements in air matters, with which there are already 74 instruments of this type with different countries of the world. One of them is to strengthen commercial air activities with the United Arab Emirates, which can facilitate passenger service between the two countries via Miami (USA).
“This opens the possibility for the entry of airlines such as Emirates and Etihad that will boost the international market and that will allow greater and better connectivity possibilities for our country”, added the Aerocivil.
EFE
