RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – IAG Group’s Spanish airline announced that it would increase its operations in Bogotá (BOG), reaching pre-pandemic levels, starting in November. In addition, it will resume flights to Santiago de Cali (CLO) from December.
The increase in operations between Spain and Colombia results from increased demand given the approaching New Year’s holidays. In addition, Spain allows the entry of citizens fully vaccinated with the vaccines approved by the European Union and the WHO, allowing the majority of immunized Colombian citizens to enter the territory.
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On the other hand, Colombia has no significant restrictions for foreigners, allowing free traffic between the old continent and South American.
In November, the route from Madrid (MAD) to Bogotá (BOG) and vice versa will increase from seven to ten weekly flights. The services will be operated with its Airbus A350-900 with a capacity for 348 passengers, giving it an offer of 6,920 seats per week.
Starting in December, it will also recover its direct route between Cali (CLO) and Madrid (MAD), with three weekly flights operated with Airbus A330-200 aircraft for 288 passengers, offering 1,728 seats per week.
“We celebrate 75 years flying to Latin America and betting on this region, in the good times and in the not so good times. Colombia is a market of enormous importance to us, where we have maintained connectivity throughout the pandemic. Now our goal is to stimulate traffic to Europe by recovering the same capacity we offered before COVID,” said María Jesús López-Solás, Iberia’s commercial, network development, and alliances director, during the ALTA FORUM, attended by Aviacionline.
“There is a latent demand, which is eager to travel again and we have already demonstrated that health measures can be made compatible with the recovery of the airline industry, so vital for the economy of any country,” concluded Jesús López-Solás.
In addition to direct flights to both destinations, the company offers connections to twelve other destinations within Colombia, code-shared with its partners in the country. It offers service to Armenia, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Leticia, Medellín, Montería, Pereira, San Andrés, Santa Marta and Yopal.
Colombia is the second-largest market between Latin America and Spain, the return of capacity to 2019 levels by Iberia reflects that it will be one of the markets that are recovering the best.