Satena will have two new routes to Venezuela and will announce the opening to other Latin American countries

President Gustavo Petro confirmed that, since March 3, the national airline Satin will begin operating flights to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Additionally, he announced that he was evaluating reaching out to other Latin American countries that may be announced soon.

“Keeping the promise of transforming SATENA into an international airline, from this Friday, March 3, two routes to Venezuela enter into service. Soon other destinations in Latin America,” President Petro wrote on his Twitter account.

The President shared information from the national airline, which made public the two new routes of Bogotá A Caracas and return, which will start operating from March. Tickets can be purchased from February 11.

Tours will take place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays at a price of $250 to $466 each way. Tickets to inaugurate this international route in Colombian pesos start at $1,105,285, which includes a 15-kilogram piece of luggage and a 5-kilogram piece of hand luggage.

“It’s true, president. We continue to work for open skies between two brotherly countries. Great news!”, declared the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedettiwho said in January that the airline was acquiring a new fleet of planes to operate the route.

Agree with Aviationline the flights will be carried out in Aircraft ERJ 145 with a capacity of 50 passengers, which started operating the route from November 2022, when the first flight was carried out after the restoration of air operations between the two countries.

The purpose of this new route is to regularize operations which, after the protocol flights for the reopening of relations, had been suspended. It was the first Colombian plane to arrive in Caracas after seven years of broken relations.

“This is Satena’s first international flight in its history. We said in the campaign that we would make it the great Colombian airline and we comply, ”launched the Colombian head of state during the first flight.

In the case of Venezuela, the airline that flies between the Colombian and Venezuelan capitals is Trupial airlineswhich has Monday, Thursday and Saturday flights, which cost around $230 each way, both ways.

The essence of these connections is that they will be direct flights, since there are other more important air connections, but which have at least one stopover for a journey of less than three hours.

Satena, the acronym for Air service to national territorieswas created in 1962 as an entity attached to the Colombian Air Force with the aim of operating flights within the country to provide service in areas that were not covered by private airlines.

Since its inception, it has been the only state airline obliged to reach places that, due to geographical conditions, public order or poverty, do not have the service of other operators. The objective was to integrate these regions with the rest of the country thanks to the air service.

However, Chairman Petro has announced that work is continuing to expand the portfolio of Satin to more international destinations other than Caracas and in Latin America. These would be announced shortly as the airline’s strengthening processes continue.

Satena currently flies to 37 destinations in 19 departments of Colombia with its only international destination in Caracas, Venezuela. Its fleet consists of 7 ATR 42 aircraft with a capacity of 48 passengers; 2 ATR 72, the largest, carry 70 passengers and 2 Embraer ERJ-145 can accommodate up to 50 passengers. It is planned to bring two ATR 42s to expand the fleet. The average age of aircraft is 14.4 years.