By Aviacionline
Venezuela: After Failing to Get Authorization, Estelar Airlines Cancels Scheduled Flights to Colombia
On December 27, 2022, the Venezuelan Aviation Authority issued a statement confirming that Estelar Airlines was not authorized to fly to Bogota. In September last year, the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) added Colombia on its list of countries authorized for regular passenger operations to Venezuela.
The Venezuelan airline had placed the Caracas (CCS) – Bogota (BOG) route for sale through its website and regular channels. After the announcement of the Colombian authority, the company was forced to transfer its operations to Turpial Airlines, to temporarily cover its operations in the Colombian capital.
Estelar issued a statement regarding the status of its services to Colombia:
“According to a series of meetings held between the Government of Venezuela and Colombia, where points of the reactivation of the air travel between both nations were discussed and it was agreed that Estelar would be the second airline to operate the route Caracas (CCS) – Bogota (BOG) – Caracas (CCS).
Aerolineas Estelar S.A. According to this information requested non-scheduled flights in the mentioned route with the due documentation before the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) and the Civil Aeronautics of Colombia. The airline received approval from INAC, however on December 21 the company submitted its request to the Colombian authorities, which is currently under evaluation and analysis.
For this reason, the airline has decided to cancel its operations to the Colombian capital as from January 4 and all tickets issued will be cancelled. Once approval has been obtained from the Colombian regulator, it will resume services on the route.”
Currently, the airlines authorized by Aerocivil to fly between Colombia and Venezuela are Wingo, LATAM, Avianca, Laser, Avior, Turpial Airlines and Satena. The uncertainty regarding Caracas-Bogota operations has become a comedy act since the restart of the aerial link was first announced.
This article was originally published by Rainer Nieves Dolande on Aviacionline in syndication with AirlineGeeks.
