Tag

Ticket sales have been reactivated but technical challenges have made searching for a flight complicated in the first day of encouragement that the strike could end soon.

Avianca hopes to stave off a strike in a morning meeting tomorrow with representatives of the pilots union ACDAC.

If enacted, a strike by ACDAC would ground some 700 pilots working for Avianca, the largest airline in Colombia.

The new agreement will go into effect on tickets sold this month and for travel dates beginning in September.

Avianca's top executive called it a “difficult decision” to suspend flights for first time in 60 years while citing safety concerns and operational difficulties.

"Inaction is not an option," said John Kelly, head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a warning to international airports.

A dozen flights marked the culmination of a $75 million USD investment in the primary air travel hub for western Colombia.

Cali will get direct flights to Santa Marta, Bucaramanga, and San Andrés, while Cartagena and Medellín also get new routes to San Andrés.

Bogotá-based airline Avianca completed the first flight on its new daily route between the Colombian capital and Montevideo today.

Avianca head Hernán Rincón says the airline "will continue negotiations with United" to reach an alliance that he believes is in the best interest of the company and shareholders.