Domestic Air Travel in Colombia

With Vast Distances to Travel - Air Travel is Often the Only Way

Sep 12, 2007 Richard McColl

While bus overland travel is the norm in Colombia, many foreigners are put off by tedious and occasionally dangerous overnight journeys for obvious reasons.

Often there’s just not time to spare 18 hours on an overnight bus, so with massive distances, flying is the only option. The big two carriers are Aerorepublica and Avianca that cater to most traditional tourist areas and cities in Colombia, but to get further a-field it may be necessary to book onto a different airline and take advantage of Colombia's first low cost airline -Easyfly

Aerorepublica

Now bought out by Copa Airlines and therefore code-sharing Continental, Aerorepublica’s reputation and stock has improved especially if you are a One Pass holder. With its relationship with Copa the international hub for Aerorepublica is conveniently in Panama. This airline boasts several daily flights to destinations from Bogota to Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cucuta, Leticia, Medellin, Monteria, Pereira, San Andres and Santa Marta.

Avianca

Avianca code-shares with Iberia, Air Canada, Taca, Delta and Mexicana and so is the larger of the “big two” in Colombia, has been around longer and not surprisingly flies to more destinations. Daily flights include, Armenia, Barrancabermeja, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cucuta, Ibagué, Manizales, Medellin, Montería, Neiva, Pasto, Pereira, Riohacha, San Andrés, Santa Marta, Tumaco, Valledupar.

Aires

Over its 26 year history, Aires has been linking 22 destinations in Colombia and has established new routes into neighbouring countries, significantly to Maracaibo in Venezuela, Panama, Aruba and Curacao. Within Colombia, Aires flies between various cities, not necessarily using Bogota as its hub. Included in Aires’ routes are Barranquilla, Montería, Cartagena, Valledupar, Medellin, Apartado, Cucuta, Bucaramanga, Yopal, Quibdo, Pereira, Ibagué, Manizales, Bogota, Armenia, Pereira, Cali, Villavicencio, Popayan, Neiva, Florencia, Puerto Asís and Ipiales.

Satena

Created in 1962 by the Colombian Government Satena has been running flights to more out of the way destinations to which the “big two” do not cater. With Satena you can reach destinations such as Apartado, Araracuara, Arauca, Bahía Solano, Bucaramanga, Buenaventura, Cali, Cucuta, Florencia, Guapi, Ipiales, Las Chorrera, La Macarena, La Pedrera, Leticia, Medellin, Mitu, Neiva, Nuqui, Pasto, Pereira, Popayan, Providencia, Puerto Asís, Puerto Carreño, Puerto Inárida, Puerto Leguizamo, Quibdo, San Andrés, San José del Guaviare, San Vicente del Caguan, Saravena, Sincelejo/ Corozal, Tame, Taracapa, Tumaco, Villagarzon, Villavicencio,

Other airlines

AeroSucre and Lineas Aereas Suramericanas

For those with time, patience and budgetary constraints another option for getting from Bogota to Leticia and beyond is with AeroSucre or LAS. Mainly cargo airlines, if the vessel is travelling light, there are always possibilities of catching a flight to Leticia this way. Luxury they are not.

http://www.lascargo.com/

Aerolinea de Antioquia

Should your base be Medellin and not Bogota, look into Aerolinea de Antioquia which flies to a variety of locations and will be of special use for getting to and from the pacific coast.

http://www.ada-aero.com/

SAM Colombia

SAM is a subsidiary airline of Avianca.

The copyright of the article Domestic Air Travel in Colombia in South America Travel is owned by Richard McColl. Permission to republish Domestic Air Travel in Colombia in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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