Now You Have More Options To Travel From Puerto Rico To Colombia

Now, you have more options for flying from Puerto Rico to Colombia and from Colombia to Puerto Rico.

The Colombian Airline Avianca announced they will offer 14 direct flights from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Colombia during the winter’s high season.

The flight increase will have a 30 million dollar impact and represent 69840 seats during the fiscal year.

Interviewed by Stephanie L Lopez from El Vocero Newspaper, The Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, said he was happy with the growth of the tourist sector in Puerto Rico and with the fact that in 2022, Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marin Airport serviced a record-breaking 10.2 million passengers.“I thank Avianca for investing in Puerto Rico and expanding their flight schedules to our Island. I reaffirm my best wishes for the airline and hope we can count on them to keep working together for years to come.” Said, Governor Pierluisi.

Puerto Rico’s Governor said the passenger ratio would be 80 percent Puertorican and 20 percent Colombian at first. Still, he hopes the number of people visiting Puerto Rico from Colombia will increase.

Avianca will have 14 direct flights from San Juan during the winter. They will start offering 4 new weekly flights from Medellin to San Juan starting on December 1, 2023. The San Juan to Bogota route will have ten weekly flights starting October 30, 2023.

Carlos Mercado, the Executive Director of Puerto Rico’s Tourism Company, said: “This is the outcome of many months of hard work. We must remember that Avianca returned to its regular work schedule in June 2021. With COVID-19, we did not have connectivity with Colombia, and in less than two years, we have the greatest flights we have ever had with our brother country.”

In May 2023, Avianca raised the number of direct flights from Bogota to Puerto Rico from 7 to 11 during the summertime, with an economic impact of more than two million dollars.

Carlos Mercado called this “An initial phase of a new route.” He also said: “We plan to have ten flights in December and January (winter’s high season) and then come back with 11 flights during the summer high season. If we take the sales we are having as an indicator, we can assume that these routes will stay year long.”

According to Carlos Mercado, Colombia has been a destination the Puerto Rico Tourism Company neglected. But now that they know people’s interest in traveling to the South American country, the Tourism Company is focused on raising the number of direct flights to Colombia.

Mercado said that Spain, The Dominican Republic, and Colombia are Puerto Rican travelers’ top three international destinations.

The addition of direct flights between Puerto Rico and Colombia represents an opportunity for people who want to visit both countries. Those passengers can spend some days in Puerto Rico and then travel to Colombia or start their vacation in Colombia and then travel to Puerto Rico.