The Colombian government has implemented timely measures that have enabled the safe resumption of aviation, especially domestic transport in a country that needs aviation for its mountainous geography for the safe and efficient transportation of the population. This consolidated Colombia as the second-fastest recovery market in the region, after Mexico, with passenger traffic at 95% of 2019 levels during the month of March (more than 1 million passengers), well above markets such as Brazil (51.8%), Chile (47.6%) or Argentina (36.9%).
The total number of passengers in Colombia, as of March 2022, shows a 12% growth compared to March 2019, and the number of domestic passengers shows a 31% growth compared to 2019 levels; which translates into the activation of a large value chain that includes the growth of the aircraft fleet and, with it, an increasing demand for aircraft maintenance and repair services.
Santiago Álvarez, CEO of Latam Colombia, said: “It is a complex country from a geographical and land point of view and this is an opportunity for air transport. The country is opening up to the international market with the arrival of many tourists for leisure or work and I believe that we are continuing to create opportunities for that country. We are very positive about what will happen in Colombia and we are betting on the country in a very aggressive way”.
The country has 54 aeronautical training centers and, between 2010 and 2018, more than 5,200 professionals graduated with university degrees or technicians related to aeronautics programs, of which more than 1,200 obtained the title of aeronautical engineer. According to data from Boeing, Latin America will need to meet a demand of 126,000 new professionals between 2021 and 2040, of which 38,000 will be pilots, 37,000 technicians and 51,000 cabin workers. There is a great opportunity to continue promoting training and job creation in the country.
About the industry’s potential, Daniel Serrano, Lufthansa’s General Manager of the Andean and Caribbean Region, comments: “The industry in Colombia is resilient and from the beginning of the recovery of the pandemic has given very clear and aligned messages between government, population and industry. Leisure travel is where we start to recover, but the country has great potential, with large intermediate cities and has a direct connection potential and a lot of connectivity with our partners. Today we can not meet the demand and we see that people want to continue traveling and doing business, what we see with good eyes”.
“Colombia is a great example of how aviation can be reactivated in a safe and timely manner and, with it, activate a large value chain that generates economic and social benefits for the population. At the moment we are in Cartagena with the largest maintenance and shopping event in the region and about 600 business travelers that activate local tourism, which generates consumption that guarantees jobs and opportunities for the population. Aviation is a powerful socioeconomic engine and that’s why, in October 2021, we set a work agenda with the Colombian government to continue improving the country’s competitiveness, develop connectivity and offer more options to passengers”, says José Ricardo Botelho, executive director & CEO of ALTA.
With 35 new routes in the country, Viva Air sees a great revival of the tourist market and cites its strategy in Colombia: “After the pandemic we saw that families included travel in their family expenses. We also saw that people began to value very direct routes. The state was always connected by Bogotá, and we noticed an important demand for direct flights to destinations like Cartagena. Viva began to offer these destinations and we had very positive results. They were markets that were hidden and now we operate 188 routes with quite high occupations. It is a market that has been reacting and is coming to stay”.
The aviation market in Colombia has great potential. Operational and regulatory competitiveness plays a key role in enabling sustained growth and, from ALTA, we will continue to promote collaborative work agendas between the sector and the government for this.
