Those searching for flights online have received error messages such as “We cannot process your request at this time” or “Internal Server Error.” Further complicating the situation is a global flight check-in system outage that has reportedly affected some 125 airlines across the world and caused confusion at airports from Washington to England to Singapore.

The complications come just hours after Colombia’s largest airline put out a statement saying that, “after analyzing the information for flights operated during these days of contingency, the airline has decided to gradually open sales to meet the passengers’ needs.”

As technology allows, Avianca plans to resume selling tickets for all its domestic and international routes, including those connecting through its hubs in Lima and San Salvador, both of which it says “are operating normally.”

The ongoing strike by the Colombian Civil Aviators Association (ACDAC) has already forced the cancellation of 1,954 flights and affected 183,000 people, according to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

ACDAC, which represents around 700 of Avianca’s 1,300 pilots, called off talks in mid-September, with its leaders announcing that the union would resort to a strike due to the carrier’s inability to meet its requirements. The union’s primary demand is for Colombian pilots to receive a salary bump to put their earnings on par with foreign pilots working for the airline, in addition to improvements to other working conditions, according to ACDAC.

According to El Tiempo, ACDAC presented a new labor proposal with lower salary demands to the government during a meeting yesterday with Colombian Labor Minister Griselda Restrepo at the Casa de Nariño in Bogotá. An arbitration

In recent days, the government has urged the union and Avianca to double their efforts to reach an accord as the Ministry of Labor continues to mediate dialogue between the two sides. “As long as this space for open dialogue remains, we are optimistic that progress will be achieved,” said Restrepo earlier this week in a press briefing.

Other airlines in Colombia are also hoping for an end to a strike that is straining air travel conditions across the country, according to El Tiempo.

Avianca continues to categorize the strike by the pilots union as illegal, as in its view air travel qualifies as an essential public service that cannot be disrupted by a labor dispute under a law passed in the 1990s.

Due to the persistent strike, Avianca has also waived change fees through the end of November for passengers who have to reschedule their flights.

Passengers will still have to pay for any difference in fare and the fee waiver does not apply to flights between October 6–17, according to the carrier. To be eligible for the fee-less flight change, travelers can contact Avianca’s call center or enter a physical sales locations. If the original ticket was purchased through a travel agency, the change must be made by that same travel agency, the company stated.

The Fondo Emprender, or Entrepreneur Fund, has been administered by the public entity SENA since 2002 with a stated goal to “finance industry initiatives develop by apprentices, students, and professionals” according to SENA.

María Andrea Nieto, general director of SENA, announced the 2017 funding and program initiatives last week in Cartagena alongside the Griselda Janeth Restrepo, Colombia’s minister of work. “This new announcement comes with more opportunities and less paper work,” said Restrepo.

The amount of money awarded to applicants will be proportional to the number of job opportunities that the company is expected to create. If three direct jobs can be generated, the applicant will receive 49 million pesos, which is 80 times the legal minimum wage in Colombia (known as the “SMLV”). Or if five new jobs can be created, for example, then the fund will grant 92 million pesos and so forth.

Carlos Gamba, coordinator of Fondo Emprender said, that the initiative will invite more young people to devise entrepreneurial plans and become motivated to study in SENA. “It is created as a seed capital to encourage any Colombian who has any productive initiative,” he said.

Applying for Fondo Emprender is free and those who are awarded funds through Fondo Emprender will also be eligible to participate in any of SENA’s various projects. The institution will also fully assist everyone “to succeed in every business plan and teach people how they can make their dreams become reality,” said Gamba.

This year, for the first time since Fondo’s creation in 2002, regional budget allocations will be made for the low-income areas of Guajira and Chocó. The areas of Guanía, Vaupés, Putumayo, Amazonas, Vichada, and Guaviare, which were targeted last year, will again benefit in 2017.

And entrepreneurs in Mocoa, the Putumayo capital where more than 300 people were killed by a flash flood in April, will also receive a billion pesos this year.

“People of vulnerable communities of Colombia and groups like Jovenes Rurales Emprendedores (Young Rural Entrepreneurs) and Líderes del Desarrollo (Development Leaders) are also welcome to participate,” stresses Fondo Emprender.

Since being founded 15 years ago, the Fondo Emprender has administered more than 450 billion pesos, according to SENA. Almost 6,000 companies have benefited and more than 22,000 new jobs have been created for Colombians.

These statistics make the Fondo Emprender among the the biggest public seed capital funds in Latin America, something that has helped it gain support from the United States government, University of Texas, and MassChallenge in Boston.

Overall, the fund is partially supported by the private sector and primarily by Colombian government, national and international organizations, multilateral bank, and investment funds.

In addition to the funding, SENA will maintain 117 business units to support and advise entrepreneurs from its training centers that are located all over the country.

Not long before announcing the new funding levels, SENA also celebrated its 60th anniversary on June 21. Founded in 195 by Rodolfo Martínez Tono, SENA was inspired by the Brazilian institution SENAI (National Service of industrial Learning). Since then, the main purpose has been to educate professionals in technical and technological programs.

It now maintains more than 500 courses across over 100 programs in areas of design, health, construction, electronic, agricultural, communication, and many others.

Last month in Medellín’s Plaza de las Luces (Plaza of Lights), a photography exhibition commemorated the 60 years that SENA has been “giving less fortunate Colombians an opportunity to study, learn a profession, and build a country with more opportunities” said Sebastián Martínez, a designer who graduated from SENA.

In a documentary, “SENA Is Colombia: 60 Years of Building Peace,” Colombians who have studied at the institution offer a host of testimonials expressing how it has helped them learn a new trade.