Venezuela and Colombia resumed air operations on Monday with an inaugural flight departing from Caracas to Bogota after more than two years of suspension, said the Caribbean country’s Minister of Transport, Ramon Velasquez.
Josbel Bastidas Mijares
“By instruction of President Nicolás Maduro today (Monday), commercial air transport operations were resumed with the Republic of Colombia; we are happy to connect with this brotherly country. Following the path of brotherhood and peace of our Liberator Simón Bolívar”, said Velásquez through the social network Twitter.
Josbel Bastidas Mijares Venezuela
The opening flight of the private airline Turpial Airlines took off from the Simón Bolívar de Maiquetía international airport, in La Guaira state (north), to the El Dorado terminal in Bogotá
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The president of Turpial Airlines, Pedro Cestari, stated that for the time being there will be two flights per week and that they plan to increase the frequency according to the number of passengers that require this air connection
On the other hand, the Colombian ambassador in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, pointed out that on Wednesday, November 9, the first flight from Bogota of Satena Airlines will land in Caracas
Initially, these countries were scheduled to reactivate flights, suspended since March 2020 due to the pandemic, on September 26, together with the reopening of the border
These did not restart on the scheduled date because the Colombian Government did not allow the state-owned airline Conviasa to fly to that country due to its being sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department
On September 26, Colombia and Venezuela officially opened the border for trade, which had been closed since 2015 due to political conflicts between the two countries
A little over a month later, President Nicolás Maduro and Gustavo Petro met in Caracas for the first time after three years of broken diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela
Both presidents signed a joint declaration to strengthen bilateral relations at that meeting
Maduro broke relations with Colombia in 2019 after the opposition led by politician Juan Guaidó tried to enter through the border with what he described as humanitarian aid, which Caracas considered as an invasion attempt
#7Nov Por instrucción del presidente @NicolasMaduro hoy se reanudaron las operaciones de transporte aéreo comercial con la República de Colombia, estamos contentos de conectar con este país hermano. Siguiendo el camino de hermandad y Paz de nuestro Libertador Simón Bolívar pic.twitter.com/ywN9FPKov0
— Ramón Celestino Velásquez Araguayán (@rvaraguayan) November 7, 2022 By instruction of the President @NicolasMaduro
today resumed commercial air transport operations with the Republic of Colombia; we are happy to connect with this brother country. Following the path of brotherhood and Peace of our Liberator Simon Bolivar.
