The Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, announced, after a meeting with the country’s air authorities, that among the measures being analyzed to mitigate the effects of Ultra Air’s suspension of operations in Colombia since March, they are reducing the VAT on air tickets, which is currently 19%, and the tax charged on gasoline.
“The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, and the Ministry of Transportation, entered into a process of analysis and evaluation of a project and a series of initiatives to reduce taxes, particularly the tax on value added (VAT), today 19%, and the tax charged on gasoline,” the minister announced.
Minister Reyes also said that declaring an economic emergency in San Andrés is being evaluated, which is one of the destinations most affected by the suspension of Ultra Air operations, since he assured that only for Easter, between Rionegro, Santa Marta, Cali, Cartagena and Bogotá, and the island, there are 16,000 tickets sold by the airline. He also noticed that the company had sold, from now to March 2024, more than 377,000 tickets.
“This situation led the president not only to summon the airlines to offer availability of seats, but also put the presidential plane at the service of this emergency, to transport the population that is at the airport,” said the minister.
The minister also pointed out that San Andrés, Leticia, Santa Marta, Cartagena and Riohacha were declared as social destinations, which will enable the mechanisms contemplated in the tourism law to be activated to adopt measures that alleviate some burdens, particularly in terms of taxes, he said. Minister Reyes.
Regarding the availability of the Air Force planes, Minister Reyes said that they will continue to serve according to the needs or requirements, likewise, he informed that the Unified Command Post will continue to act and “with the collaboration of airlines such as Avianca, Satena and Latam, have been providing support in terms of offering collaboration to bring and take passengers to their different destinations”.
He also announced that some work groups made up of the Superintendency of Transportation, Industry and Commerce, Civil Aeronautics, the Air Force, the Ministry of Commerce and Transportation were activated, which will evaluate the necessary measures to guarantee passengers, who have tickets especially for Holy Week and the week of recess, they can fulfill their family and tourist projects.
These tables are also doing economic analysis, for, said Minister Reyes: “Effect of some transfers between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transportation to give Satena the necessary resources, so that it could operate and guarantee tourism to the destinations I had Ultra up to this point.”
The minister warned that the difficulties presented by the suspension of Ultra Air operations in the country, which he insisted was given without prior notice to the authorities, does not mean that air transport in Colombia will be affected in general:
“We have guaranteed the operation in the other airlines. This conjunctural situation that comes in addition to the effects of the pandemic, obviously finds solutions in our Government ”.
Regarding the possibility of declaring an air emergency, the minister said: “We have warned that we are in an emergency situation, that issue of the declaration will be taken to the next council of ministers, however, all the measures within our reach, in the We are using the law, in the decrees and the powers, we are enabling resources that the Ministry of Finance would grant to the Ministry of Transportation so that by this means we can enable all those Colombians with reservations, especially for Easter and recess, to be able to fulfill with some affectations.
He also warned that, at the close of this note, “all passengers have found an answer, some with return of resources and others with displacement in the schedules and itineraries on their trips.”
