Colombian airlines Avianca and LATAM Colombia said they would resume full schedules today (Wednesday) after warning earlier they would have to cancel dozens of flights due to shortages of jet fuel. Avianca said it had received confirmation from the nation’s main supplier of jet fuel that there would no longer be any restrictions on how much fuel was provided to airlines, enabling it to again sell tickets for all its routes and observe its planned flights.
LATAM Colombia said that it would resume normal operations Wednesday and that passengers whose Tuesday flights were cancelled had been assigned to other flights on the same day. LATAM had announced earlier Monday that it was cancelling 36 flights for Tuesday due to fuel shortages.
The announcements by the airlines, which carry more than 70% of Colombia’s domestic passengers, capped off a turbulent day on Monday for Colombia’s aviation industry that saw hundreds of passengers grounded and others struggling to rebook their flights.
On Sunday, Colombia’s national oil company, Ecopetrol, announced it had imported 100,000 barrels of jet fuel to ensure supplies for domestic airlines after the carriers complained they were not receiving enough fuel from suppliers.
The crisis came after a power shortage Aug. 16 disrupted local production of jet fuel at an Ecopetrol refinery in the city of Cartagena. In a letter sent to airlines Aug. 21, local fuel supplier Terpel said the disruption would force it to cut the amount of fuel it could sell at airports in the country.
On Monday, Ecopetrol President Ricardo Roa said the jet fuel production had been restored, and he criticized fuel distributors, saying they were not importing enough fuel to comply with rising demand.
President Gustavo Petro said on his X account that there was no shortage of jet fuel in the country, but rather an “irregular situation” that “is under investigation.” Transportation Minister María Constanza García said there was enough jet fuel in the country, but that airports were currently undergoing “logistical” problems.
The civil aviation authority issued an ordinance Sunday allowing airlines to cancel flights between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 if fuel was not available. But late Monday, the agency announced the ordinance had been cancelled because there was now enough jet fuel in the country to operate all scheduled flights.
Avianca CEO Federico Pedreira said in a statement Monday night that he was surprised and pleased by the news that supplies of jet fuel had normalized.
“However, this situation demonstrates the need for members of the supply chain to anticipate problems and communicate with each other, so that there is more clarity on inventories and availability of fuel,” Pedreira said.