Colombia Coordinating Humanitarian Repatriation Flights For Citizens Stranded Abroad

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Transportation and Migration Colombia have been coordinating efforts to arrange humanitarian flights allowing the return to Colombia of citizens that have been stranded abroad due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic.

To date the Colombian government has arranged 60 humanitarian flights, returning over 7,200 Colombian nationals to the country, and says it expects at least 1,000 more this week. Last week between Sunday and Tuesday, around 900 Colombians returned to the country.

All Colombians arriving in the coming days must comply with the mandatory isolation measure in the city of Bogotá, under penalty of administrative and criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

In the comping weeks, Colombians are taking advantage of return flights from countries such as: Honduras, Guatemala, South Africa, Belgium, United States, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Spain, Aruba, Italy, among others .

According to the government, flights already scheduled are as follows:

June 4: Honduras / Guatemala

June 4: Brazil / South Africa

June 5: Panama

June 5: Los Angeles

June 6: Ecuador

June 6: Chicago

June 7: Miami

June 7: Mexico

June 8: Argentina

June 8: Spain

June 9: Canada

June 9: Chile

June 10: United States

June 10: Mexico

June 11: United States

June 11: Belgium / Netherlands / Luxembourg

June 12: United States

June 12: Peru

June 13: Mexico

June 13: Italy

June 14: Ecuador

June 14: United Kingdom

June 15: Spain

June 15: Aruba / Curaçao

Last week flights arrived from New York, Orlando, Spain and Mexico, and this week, flights are scheduled to arrive from Peru, Argentina and Italy.

Chancellor Claudia Blum clarified that according to the established protocol, these types of flights are operated by commercial airlines and that the cost of the air fare is assumed by each of the traveler, who must have previously registered with their respective Colombian Consulates to qualify for these humanitarian flights.

Minister of Transportation Angela María Orozco, pointed out that these flights comply with strict protocols and biosecurity measures in all air terminals, while Juan Francisco Espinosa, Director of Migration Colombia stressed that prior to entering the country, the group of Colombians must fill out the ‘Preventive Control Against Coronavirus’ form, through the website of Migration Colombia, then once they land in Colombia, they will be assessed by the health authorities three times prior to the immigration control process.