Colombia to resume international flights this month

Colombia is set to resume international flights this month following a six-month break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government plans to restart international flights gradually from 21 September, Reuters reported, quoting Colombian Minister of Transport Angela Maria Orozco.

The health ministry is currently finalising the security protocols that will include coronavirus tests for passengers.

In addition, international flights will depend on destination countries, airport capacity  and the interest of carriers.

Minister Orozco was quoted by the news agency as saying: “International flights will restart with a gradual first phase, which will be announced shortly.”

In March, Colombia suspended flight operations and closed its borders in a bid to restrict the spread of Covid-19. It also announced a national lockdown that ended last month.

Domestic flight operations recently resumed with a limited capacity.

However, the South American nation will keep its land and sea borders closed at least until 1 October.

As of 11 September, Colombia has reported more than 694,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. The death toll has crossed 22,000.

Globally, the disease has infected more than 28 million people, while the death toll has surged to 909,000.

The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the aviation industry.

An Airports Council International (ACI) World analysis predicted that airport industry revenues may fall by 60% compared to the projected baseline (pre-Covid-19 forecast for 2020).

The air passenger traffic will fall by 58.4% on a year-on-year basis this year, the report further said.