Aviation
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Colombia surpasses 2019 trade routes with new international itineraries
Copa Airlines Colombia Embraer ERJ-190
Pablo Andrés Ortega Chávez, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons
9/28/2021
ProColombia, an entity specialized in promoting tourism, foreign investment and exports in Colombia, says that Colombia is now more connected to the world. That's because, this year, 21 airlines announced the start of operations on 31 new international routes, of which 19 were inaugurated by September, a number that surpasses the one registered in 2019, in the pre-pandemic period, when 17 new air connections came into operation . This means an increase of 82.3%.
This year, Colombia inaugurated connections with the cities of Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic; New York, Orlando and Newark, in the United States; Cancun and Mexico City, Mexico; Lima, Peru; Montreal, Canada; and Santiago, Chile. This latest new destination is, however, suspended and still pending reactivation before the end of the year. Even so, it is expected that in the coming months even more connections will be established with Mexico City, Santiago, Miami, Cancun, New York, Panama City and Toronto.
María Ximena Lombana, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, says: “More and more airlines are betting on the Colombian market. Also in 2021, two Mexican companies arrived in South America for the first time, and at least a dozen more are increasing their capacity in terms of number of frequencies and routes. We already have 22 airlines operating in the country, connecting eight Colombian cities with 24 countries, that is, we have already recovered 88% of the markets to which the country was connected in 2019”.
Because of the new routes, more Colombian destinations are joining the list of cities with international connections. Destinations such as Barranquilla, Pereira, Bucaramanga and Armenia have attracted the interest of more airlines, adding new connections. In addition, in December this year, San Andrés and Cúcuta will have new international routes for the first time, with Miami and Panama City, respectively, on American Airlines and Copa Airlines flights.
According to the president of ProColombia, Flavia Santoro, the conquest of these 31 new routes is due to an articulated work with airports, entities promoting destinations and Aerocivil. “We joined forces to quickly recover international connectivity, a fundamental axis that allows the safe reactivation of Tourism in our country”, she says.
Currently, there are more than 680 weekly international air frequencies with an availability of about 116,000 seats. The top 10 markets that concentrate more than 90% of frequencies to Colombia are the United States, Panama, Mexico, Spain, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Chile, Brazil and Turkey.
However, there are more and more airlines betting on the Colombian market. Later this year, for example, the Mexican Viva Aerobus and Volaris will arrive, which will land in South America for the first time. In addition, Air Canada, American Airlines, Viva, JetSmart, Spirit and Copa Airlines are also increasing their capacity among the number of frequencies and new routes.
In addition, there is also Iberia, which announced the increase of its operations from seven to ten weekly flights between Madrid and Bogotá, recovering 100% of its pre-pandemic capacity. In addition, the company also announced that it will resume the Madrid-Cali route for the December 2021 to February 2022 season.
There is also the resumption of connections between Colombia and Europe, with companies such as Air Europa, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Avianca, Air France and KLM. Colombia is currently connected to the European continent with more than 40 air frequencies, with more than 12 thousand seats available to Madrid, Paris, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Before, there was the supply of more than 26,500 seats for this region. Therefore, there was a 45% recovery in supply.
Copa Airlines Colombia Embraer 190
aeroprints . com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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