Air travel to Colombia is expected to suffer major delays on Friday after migration officials in Bogota on Monday said they will go on strike to demand improved working conditions.
The union said Friday’s “regulation plan,” would consist of “executing all the protocols ‘to the letter’, making procedures to last as long as possible.”
However, the migration officials “can’t assure there won’t be a full stoppage” of international traffic to and from the capital Bogota’s El Dorado airport.
According to union leader Edison Bonilla, the migration officials are going on strike after a union list of demands regarding timetables and the alleged persecution of union-affiliated employees.
The union leader warned travelers coming from abroad to take into account that “the migration process could take between 4 to 5 hours.”
El Dorado is the third busiest airport in Latin America receiving 27 million passengers per year. December is the airport’s busiest time of the year as tens of thousands of tourists visit the country and Colombians living abroad travel to their home country to visit family and friends.
The national Migration office on Sunday said it would run operations according to a contingency plan to counterweight the effects of the strike.
Sources
- Funcionarios de Migración Colombia anuncian “plan reglamento” para exigir mejoras laborales (RCN Radio)
- Third quarter statistics (ElDorado Airport)
- Press release – December 14 2014 (Migracion Colombia)