The Colombian president Gustavo Petro and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, simultaneously announced the resumption of commercial flights between the two countries after more than two years.
The move comes in the context of renewed diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela following Petro’s inauguration as the country’s first leftist president.
At the time of this publication, it was not made clear whether the resumption of flights will take place on the same day that the borders between the two countries are reopened, 26 September, or whether it will happen later. But Maduro did mention that the first routes will be Caracas – Bogotá and Valencia – Bogotá.
“We confirm the government’s commitment to re-establish brotherly relations,” said Gustavo Petro on his Twitter account.
Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, air connectivity between Colombia and Venezuela had been significantly reduced during the previous decade because of the diplomatic crisis.
From being one of the most important South American markets, which until 2017 had about 17 daily flights, Colombia-Venezuela dropped to about 30 weekly flights in the early 2020s by LASER, Avior and Wingo.
Avianca left Venezuela in 2017 after more than 60 years citing safety concerns. But given the new political climate, the company has already applied to Aerocivil to resume flights between Bogotá and Caracas with up to one daily service.
The two countries are linked by strong cultural, ethnic and family ties. It is estimated that more than 1,842,390 Venezuelan citizens live in Colombia and more than 300,000 Colombians live in Venezuela.
