Avianca will resume domestic flights in Colombia from September 1st.

The airline Avianca announced this Thursday the resumption of its flights in Colombia starting next September 1st after a five-month paralysis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“This Tuesday, September 1st, Avianca will return to the skies of Colombia connecting from Bogotá to destinations such as Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín, Montería, Pereira and San Andrés,” the company said in a statement.

That same day, the mandatory quarantine that has been in effect in the country since March 25 will be lifted to try to mitigate the covid-19 pandemic, which has so far left 582,022 infected and 18,468 dead in Colombia.

The information added that as of September 7 Avianca will also restart operations from Bogotá to Pasto, Santa Marta, Villavicencio and from Medellín to Cali and Cartagena.

“Our commitment is to connect Colombia and that is why the resumption of the air operation is a step forward in the economic recovery of the country. When Avianca flies, not only its clients fly, but also travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, tour operators and merchants in general,” said the company’s executive president, Anko van der Werff.

Biosafety Protocols

The airline “will apply the strict biosecurity protocols that have already been successfully tested on more than 330 special flights, transporting more than 34,380 people during these months,” said the company about the humanitarian flights it has operated to different countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Avianca recalled that on August 10th it received from the Colombian authorities the seals of Biosecurity Check in and Biosecurity Operations for a better management of the control system of the covid-19.

According to Avianca, on his return from quarantine the national operation will be equivalent to 12% of what it was before the pandemic, but he hopes that the demand will grow in order to expand his destinations.

Similarly, he hopes that the favorable concept on the viability of international flights, issued by the Ministry of Health, “will allow the rapid opening of the market to other countries that are high impact destinations for Colombia.

The Ministry of Health informed this Thursday, after analyzing the “epidemiological information that suggests that Colombia is reaching the peak” of the pandemic and that the speed of transmission of covid-19 has been reduced, that “conditions do not persist to keep international flights closed”, although it did not give a date for its resumption.

By EFE