A Turpial Airlines flight at the international airport in Valencia, Venezuela. Photo: Venezuela News.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has authorized all Venezuelan airlines to restart their flights to Colombia.
This was confirmed by the ambassador of Colombia in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, in an interview.
“The most important thing is that Maduro has already authorized all Venezuelan airlines to travel to Colombia and to increase the number of flight days and frequencies,” Benedetti stated.
He added that the agreement on flight operations was reached during a dinner he had with President Maduro a few days ago.
Colombian Government Asks Airlines to Be Ready to Resume Flights to Venezuela
The airlines that have been authorized are Laser Airlines, Avior Airlines and Conviasa. They join Turpial Airlines which has been operating its flights to Colombia since November 7.
As for the Colombian airline Satena, Benedetti stated that it is already in the condition to operate its route to Venezuela, as the company made the necessary investments to make its operations profitable.
“Satena should start flying in a week or two because it has already acquired a different fleet,” he said.
President Maduro’s decision to authorize all airlines to fly to and from Colombia comes together with the total reopening of the border between the two countries, which is expected to occur on January 1, 2023.
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On Tuesday, December 13, President Maduro announced, “About the regularization of relations with Colombia, I can say that we will be completely opening the border of all western Venezuela with Colombia for the passage of motorcycles, trucks, and cars.”
He said that the total opening of the border is a “New Year’s gift to the people of the Venezuela-Colombia border region, and that the promise that he made on November 1, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, will thus be fulfilled.”
“We are preparing everything for the total opening on January 1,” he announced. “From the beginning of 2023, the border will be functional, free—passage from here to there, from there to here.”
The border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia were reopened for vehicular movement on November 26 this year. Since Gustavo Petro came to the presidency of Colombia, the governments of the two neighboring countries are working on the complete normalization of relations and the total opening of the binational border.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF
