This Thursday, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña, the Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, announced that for the tranquility of San Andrés and other regions that have been affected by the departure of the airlines Live and Ultra Air, the companies would return to the Colombian skies before the end of the month.
(Viva and Ultra Air would fly again before the end of April).
As announced at the press conference from the Archipelago, in the middle of the following week the Civil Aeronautics will decide what will happen with the integration of Avianca – Viva.
“The important thing here is not how beneficial the business is for Avianca or Viva, perhaps it will seem to the materialists that we are working to benefit a monopoly and no, the most important thing in Aerocivil’s decision is the passengers, the agencies of travel and the workers of Viva”Reyes pointed out.
Regarding Ultra, the minister pointed out that there is a very advanced capitalization process that could be completed before the end of the month, and its return will involve international flights.
Now, regarding the air emergency in San Andrés and avoiding what happened at Easter due to the departure of low cost airlines (which served 50% of the air market), the Minister of Transportation announced that they are preparing a draft decree in which he will deliver subsidies to airlines that cover social routes, which are allocated through a public process to prevent this from happening again.
(Live: Government support measures for San Andrés announced).
“Airlines such as JetSmart, Estelar, Wingo and others may apply to these. For the moment they would apply to the routes of San Andrés and Providencia so that they have more flights, this will allow us to recover and grow the operation of the air market”, Reyes pointed out.
In other cases, these routes will be chosen taking into account the difficult access and connectivity in some regions, as well as the importance of the tourism sector in the region. These will be financed with money from the National Budget.
In addition to this, destinations that for any reason register a drop in their offer of commercial air services will be considered difficult to access and connectivity, in the event that the affectation is greater than 20% of the offer compared to the previous quarter.
Other measures for San Andrés
In addition, through a decree that several ministries work together, the National Government will declare the Archipelago as a border zone and a Special Border Development Unit.
The special treatment for the Archipelago will allow, among other benefits, that aircraft can refuel with differential rates.
Through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, a Jet A1 fuel quota will be established on the maximum volumes of fuels with tax benefits that, within the framework of Law 681 of 2001, will be distributed in the Archipelago for the supply of aircraft that provide the service.
Also by decree, they will announce that customs duties will not be paid for shipments from San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina that arrive in the rest of the national customs territory.
In addition, they plan to invest in infrastructure to increase the capacity of tourism service operators (cultural and nature), the archipelago will be promoted through campaigns with Fontur and Procolombia.
(The complaint from San Andrés: ‘It was the worst Holy Week in history’).
“Between April 20 and 22, the work plan on the plans begins, on the ordering of beaches, which we have already been defining with tourist infrastructure, this is part of the commitments adopted in the month of March”added Minister Umaña.
These projects will generate a direct impact on equipment, public space, basic sanitation infrastructure, job creation. Since San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina are priority territories, the projects will not have a counterpart for their implementation.
Finally, to meet the demand for new loans required by tourism service providers, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, through Banca de las Oportunidades, plan to establish a line of credit for $15,000 million pesos to support the value chain of the sector in the Archipelago with differential rates.
PAULA ANDREA GALEANO BALAGUERA
BRIEFCASE
