“We are going to give all for all, and if this government or someone else says that they are going to approve old private vehicles to provide the service, we are going to mobilize throughout the country and take over the airports,” said Opsina.

During an interview with the television program Noticias RCN, Ospina complained about the treatment of cab drivers in the country, whom he claims are being adversely affected by transportation apps and are being pushed into suicide due to the economic effects that they are experiencing with the new competition. He does not mention the dismal reputation taxi drivers, especially in Bogotá have, for ripping off, and even robbing passengers.

“Why don’t you see that there are many taxi drivers in the country who have committed suicide in the last two years? There are ten because they lost their house and lost their taxi, since nobody here wants to control informal transportation. Why don’t they look at what is happening with us in the country?” he said.

Guillermo Reyes, the Minister of Transportation, expressed disappointment at Ospina’s threat of a mass mobilization of taxi drivers in the country, saying that he is “opposed to the blockades,” and calling for a formal sit-down meeting to hammer out a proposal that could satisfy the taxi guild and keep them from striking.

“Since October we have a taxi drivers’ worktable, we have been building, among other regulations, the bill with them. When they say that they are going to block, my question is: Why can’t we talk? That is the invitation, to all taxi drivers, to all Über drivers. This is a country that cannot have exclusions, the change lies in that, in sitting down to build on the basis of a consensus,” Reyes said.

In a tweet about the situation, President Gustavo Petro said, “They seek to pit some workers against other workers, so that the chaos does not allow a peaceful climate for social reforms,” saying that “[both] the people who work on platforms and the taxi drivers” are overexploited.

Reyes has been pushing for a new proposal that increases sanctions on drivers of vehicles for private transportation apps in the wake of increasing protests from the taxi drivers in the country.

“This is the bill that seeks to establish and modify the entire issue of the sanctioning regime of the transport sector and there we are going to deal with the issue of how we are going to fight against informality and illegality in transportation,” he said. “We cannot allow private cars and motorcycles to provide a public transportation service that is not formalized.”

Despite this, Reyes has also promised that the new proposal will not be aiming to disallow or ban transportation apps like Über, DiDi, and InDriver in the country: “Nowhere does the draft of the project establish the prohibition of the provision of transport services through the platforms.”

Above photo: Violent anti-Über taxi protest where taxi drivers threw eggs at passing cars (Photo: Loren Moss)

“We won’t open intermunicipal transport during the month of June, nor domestic or international flights,” said President Ivan Duque. “We will make exceptions for humanitarian flights for the return of our compatriots to the country; we will maintain the borders closed for the month of June.”

“It is positive that we have a defined date for the effective sale of international tickets, but we call on the government to also define the date for domestic flights; key to the resumption of operations and survival of our airline,” Viva Air’s Commercial Vice President Lisa Monta Pinto told Finance Colombia.

“From Monday according to the minister’s announcement, we are authorized to start selling international tickets dated from September first. Based on that, at Viva we believe that sales of international flights will be slower than domestic flights. We know that initially, operations will be adjusted according to the demand that we experience. This will also allow us to determine how ticket sales will behave, so we will be constantly monitoring demand in order to be able to respond with opportunity, efficiency, and competitive value.”

“It is also important to highlight that at Viva we are ready to resume operations once we have the national government’s authorization as we prepare with all the biosecurity measures and protocols to continue to guarantee inclusive air travel in Colombia,” she said.

Decree 749 also orders that Colombia’s borders—land, sea & riparian—remain closed with Venezuela, Peru, Panamá, Brazil and Ecuador until July 1 except for cargo, merchandise, force majeure, humanitarian emergencies, or the departure of foreigners coordinated by Migration Colombia, the country’s immigration enforcement authority.

The decree stipulates punishment for noncompliance under Article 368 of the Penal Code: “Whoever violates a sanitary measure adopted by the competent authority to prevent the introduction or spread of an epidemic will be imprisoned for four to four years and, in addition, will have to pay the fines ordered by Decree 780 of 2016, issued by the Ministry of Health.”

Despite the drop — from 57th in 2017 to 60th this year — the Andean nation’s overall score in the Global Competitiveness Report was largely unchanged, actually increasing by 0.1 points, to 61.6, on a scale that rated 140 different economies on a point scale of 1 to 100.

This was slightly above the average score of 60.0 but well behind the top five economies, which were the United States (85.6), Singapore (83.5), Germany (82.8), Switzerland (82.6), and Japan (82.5)

Moreover, despite the slight dip in the rankings following its best-ever position last year, Colombia’s ranking of 60th overall still represents an improvement compared to its historical standing. In 2009, for example, Colombia ranked 74th, and it sat at 69th as recently as 2014.

In Latin America, Colombia ranked fifth this year, following Chile (ranked 33rd), Mexico (46th), Uruguay (53rd), and Costa Rica (56th). It outpaced peers including Peru (63rd), Panama (64th), Brazil (72nd), Argentina (82nd), and Ecuador (86th).

Looking at the wider breakdown of the economy, Colombia continues to lag in technological areas, including “innovation capability” and “ICT adoption,” where it ranked 73rd and 84th overall, respectively. Poor results in these categories position the country in a particularly undesirable place for the future, according to a study that is increasingly touting the need for digital progress.

“The index integrates well-established aspects with new and emerging levers that drive productivity and growth,” stated the World Economic Forum. “It emphasizes the role of human capital, innovation, resilience, and agility as not only drivers but also defining features of economic success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Other trouble ares holding back the country’s competitiveness are its institutions (89th overall), infrastructure (843rd), labor market (80th), and “skills” (80th). “Weak institutions — defined as including security, property rights, social capital, checks and balances, transparency and ethics, public-sector performance, and corporate governance — continue to hinder competitiveness, development, and well-being in many countries,” stated the report.

In line with its international reputation, security remains one of the other largest hurdles for Colombia as well, according to the study. While the global average score in this category is 72 — with half of all nations scoring 75 or higher — Colombia came in at just 43.5. This was comparable, but still worse, than the two other larger countries in the region, Brazil (which scored 45.8) and Mexico (46.0).

“Across all countries, the relationship between the prevalence of organized crime and the perceived reliability of the police is strikingly close,” states the study.

On the positive side, Colombia ranks very well in terms of health (35th) and market size (37th). Both business dynamism (49th) and macro-economic stability (58th) also come in as strengths.

When it comes to sub-categories, the nation also stands out for its budget transparency (4th), conflict of interest regulation (11th), airport connectivity (31st), internal labor mobility (33rd), and the soundness of its banks (35th).

By contrast, there needs to be improvement made when it comes to organized crime (135th), judicial independence (112th), hiring and firing practices (109th), buyer sophistication (95th), and property rights (94th), according to the World Economic Forum.

(Image credit: mohamed_hassan / Pixabay)

Catalina Bretón, chief executive of Wingo. (Credit: Wingo)

In all, the carrier, which is controlled by Panama-based Copa Holdings S.A. and operates out of Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport, transported 26,455 passengers during some of Colombia’s busiest travel dates of the year. Over 11 days surrounding Holy Week, Wingo operated 226 flights to destinations in Colombia and vacation hotspots overseas.

The carrier’s most popular destinations during Semana Santa included Cartagena and San Andres in Colombia as well as Mexico City and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

“The airline market in the country has improved in the last decade and this accounts for the growing number of Colombians who now consider air travel their first choice when traveling,” said Catalina Bretón, chief executive of Wingo.

She added that airport infrastructure investment in recent years has strengthened Colombian carriers’ ability to better serve travelers during holidays when many are hoping to maximize their limited time to visit family and enjoy their vacations. “Airlines prefer punctual aircraft in order to strengthen our operations and satisfy our travelers,” said Bretón.

Across all airlines, Colombia’s aviation regulator Aerocivil reported more than 2.2 million fliers passing through the nation’s airports during the Semana Santa high season. According to the agency, the industry as a whole improved its customer satisfaction record greatly over its 2016 performance. Aerocivil received an average of 18 complaints per day in 2017 compared to 45 per day during the Holy Week period last year.

Photo credit: Wingo

• New procedure streamlines the departure procedure from Colombian airports
• Travelers will save an average of 40 minutes in their departure process
• The measure took effect beginning last Tuesday September 8^th

The lines for the tax stamp in the past could be up to 40 minutes long, creating a significant bottleneck for the international traveler. Resolution 01545 of July 2^nd, 2015 applies to Colombian passengers who live outside of the country and are visiting for a period of less than 180 days, foreign tourists or travelers who will be in Colombia for less than 60 days, subsidized or scholarship students who are studying abroad, public servants on official business, diplomats, children under five years old, official sports delegations, and residents of the San Andres islands who are visiting Central American countries for less than 10 days.

The departure tax has been integrated into the price of international airline tickets. The airlines have been able to reimburse passengers in exchange for the tax receipt. Other airlines that don’t charge the integrated tax must collect the receipt before passengers board.  Now, the airlines will determine who is required to pay the tax and who is not, remaining accountable to Colombia’s Aerocivil, the civilian aviation authority.