As a “bucket of cold water” was received by the Valledupar tourism industry, the announcement by the airline LATAM about the cessation of operations of the direct route that connects the capital of Cesar with the city of Bogotá.
The airline company announced that will suspend from Monday, January 16 of next year, the connectivity offered between these two cities in the countrywhere the last flight will be provided on Sunday, January 15 of the coming year.
Among the reasons that the airline pointed out is that “during the last months the mentioned route has generated losses of approximately -65% in its income, despite the effort that the airline has made since its beginning of operation to stimulate it.”
“These losses are motivated in large part by the increase in fuel, the devaluation and inflation that is significantly affecting the industry. The average occupancy factors of this route is 64%, which does not allow us to continue profitably with them”, he pointed out.
In this sense, he indicated that the exposed route “is already closed for sale” and that he has begun to contact passengers informing them of their suspension, through telephone calls, text messages and/or sending emails; protecting them with the following alternatives:
Also, he stated that he will return 100% of the money of the passengers who have purchased an air ticket on the mentioned route, prior to the notification of this decision; In the same way that the services will be available, if a customer requests it, change the route within those offered by the airline in the country.
“LATAM Airlines Colombia SA, guarantees that all passengers who have purchased an air ticket on the referred routes will be duly attended by the airline until January 15, 2023,” the statement stated.
According to statements issued by Octavio Pico, director of Cotelco in Cesar, the airline’s decision constitutes an impact on Valledupar’s tourism competitiveness, especially if one takes into account that this airline was one of the few that provided frequent area connectivity. with the capital of the country. “It is definitely unfortunate. Hopefully that can be fixed,” she expressed.
Adding to this discontent, the congressman for Cambio Radical, Didier Lobo Chinchilla, through his official account on the social network Twitter, expressed that “More expensive tickets and economic and social difficulties for #valledupar are envisioned with the suspension of the Valledupar-Bogotá route of @LATAM_CO I make an urgent call to the National Government to maintain the route and manage the operation of other airlines”.
So things, The airlines that provide air connectivity to Valledupar, from the Alfonso López Pumarejo Airport, are Avianca, EasyFly, Sarpa, Ultra Air and Viva Air. The latter began operations at the end of March of this year, with a direct route to the capital of Antioquia, with two weekly flights: the first, on Wednesday nights, leaving at 10:20 pm; while the second, on Fridays, in the morning, taking off at 7:50 am, to Medellín.
“This new route brings multiple benefits to our users, such as the optimization of transfer time, avoiding unnecessary stops, since this is a new point-to-point service, that is, a direct flight. In addition, new commercial and tourist opportunities are opening up between Valledupar and Medellín,” said the Aeropuertos del Oriente SAS consortium, which operates the air terminal in the capital of Cesar.