Ultra Air, Colombia’s ultra-low-cost startup, began selling tickets, with a start date of February 23, after having carried out 26 verification flights and audits of administrative, technical, and operational processes.
This week, the Aerocivil’s Air Safety Secretariat delivered the results of the inspection of Air Operations, Airworthiness, Dispatch, and Operational Safety of the Special Administrative Unit of the Civil Aeronautics.
The testing work demanded almost 15,000 hours of work: 3,311 TCM (Cockpit Crewmembers), including ongoing training; 1,482 TCP (Cabin Crewmembers), 141 hours of flight dispatchers; 1,088 of Airworthiness personnel; 1,120 of virtual training in regulations and 7,758 of airport personnel training.
“The professionalism and experience demonstrated by the teams of all operational areas such as Crew, Maintenance, Dispatch, Security and Ground Operations, and the 26 check flights with our A320 HK-5393-X aircraft to all destinations that make up the initial routes, allow us to affirm that we are completely ready to start operations and provide a friendly and safe service to all our passengers,” said Vice President of Operations, Juan Fernando Arango.
Ultra Air Promotion:
With the approval of this process, Ultra Air began selling its tickets to nine domestic routes with a final price of COL 17,200 (USD 4) per leg and with a promotion of two tickets for the price of one. This promotion is valid to fly during the company’s first week of operations.
All flights can be purchased through the ultraair.com website.
It currently has one Airbus A320-200 with a capacity for 180 passengers, and four additional aircraft will arrive in the coming weeks.
In January, it decided to apply the mega-investment regime, which grants tax incentives to companies that create a certain number of jobs and make investments above certain amounts.
Thus, as Ultra Air has planned investments of US$30 million over the next five years and the creation of some 22,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs, it will benefit from incentives such as maintaining an income tax rate of 27% and accelerated depreciation of fixed assets for a minimum period of 2 years, regardless of the useful life of the asset.
The seven initial cities and 9 routes
| Start date | Routes | Competition |
| February 23 | Bogotá (BOG) – Medellín/Rionegro (MDE) | Avianca (131 flights per week), LATAM (72 flights per week), VIVA (36 flights per week), Wingo (13 flights per week) |
| February 23 | Bogotá (BOG) – San Andres (ADZ) | Avianca (28 flights per week), LATAM (26 flights per week), VIVA (24 flights per week), Wingo (4 flights per week) |
| February 24 | Bogotá (BOG) – Cartagena (CTG) | Avianca (97 flights per week), VIVA (42 flights per week), LATAM (39 flights per week), Wingo (11 flights per week) |
| February 24 | Medellín/Rionegro (MDE) – Cartagena (CTG) | VIVA (42 flights per week), LATAM (30 flights per week), Avianca (17 flights per week) |
| February 24 | Medellín/Rionegro (MDE) – Santa Marta (SMR) | VIVA (35 flights per week), LATAM (19 flights per week), Avianca (10 flights per week) |
| February 25 | Bogotá (BOG) – Santa Marta (SMR) | Avianca (56 flights per week), VIVA (34 flights per week), LATAM (27 flights per week), Wingo (10 flights per week) |
| February 25 | Bogotá (BOG) – Cali (CLO) | Avianca (114 flights per week), LATAM (45 flights per week), Wingo (12 flights per week), VIVA (9 flights per week) |
| February 25 | Cartagena (CTG) – Pereira (PEI) | VIVA (19 flights per week), Avianca (6 flights per week), LATAM (5 flights per week) |
| February 28 | Pereira (PEI) – Santa Marta (SMR) | VIVA (11 flights per week), Avianca (4 flights per week) |
