Colombian civil aviation authorities will only allow budget U.S. carrier Spirit Airlines to open a flight route between the North American city of Fort Lauderdale and Colombia’s Atlantic coastal city of Barranquilla, on the condition that the airline also open one to the Colombian Carribean island of San Andres, reports El Heraldo.
According to El Heraldo, Colombian aviation has not approved three new Fort Lauderdale to Barranquilla Spirit flights, scheduled to take off in July.
The Colombian government did not confirm this information, but vice minister of Tourism, Oscar Rueda said a meeting is scheduled this week with Spirit Airlines representatives.
“They committed to [a flight to] San Andres, and they haven’t said they won’t uphold the committment. We need to work out the schedule,” Rueda said.
“There needs to be a meeting and a clarification on how the operation to San Andres will work, and as soon as that is concrete, I think that the Barranquilla route can be worked out. I don’t see the problem in that,” Rueda said.
Raul Riveira, the manager of Acsa, the company that manages Barranquilla’s Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport, said that one flight path should not be conditional on another, because it could damage investment prospects.
The vice minister said that he hoped that a decision will be made regarding Barranquilla by Friday.
Spirit announced last December that they planned to launch the new, direct flight path between Fort Lauderdale and San Andres this June.