As of 12 am this Thursday, March 30, the airline ultra air will suspend its operations in Colombia, for which reason it will not fly on any of its scheduled routes.
With this announcement, which comes just a few days before the start of the Easter holiday season, miles of passengers who had purchased tickets will be stranded.
(Also read: Ultra Air runs out of 3 planes to meet users with their flights).
For this reason, other airlines such as Avianca and Latam Airlines announced aid so that these users can make the trips they had scheduled.
Latam assured that it will make available protection fees per route for Ultra Air travelers who will have tickets issued with a travel date until April 15, 2023. These rates will be reflected taking into account the seats available on this airline’s flights.
The purchase of tickets can only be made at the airports where Latam sells tickets and passengers must show support for their ticket issued by Ultra Air, including those who made the purchase at travel agencies.
(Also read: Attention: Ultra Air suspends all its operations, it will not fly anymore).
Likewise, the purchase can be made up to five days before the original date of your trip, regardless of the return date. The protection rates will be the same offered for Viva Air passengers as a result of the suspension of its operations last February 27.
Meanwhile, Avianca announced that, to make the protection effective, Ultra Air users have two options. The first is free protection, subject to space and in order of arrival at the airport for those who have flight date until April 1st.
Users must go to the airports the day they have their flight or maximum one day before it with a valid ticket to be verified.
(Also read: Five factors cause strong turbulence in the aviation sector).
Avianca is also offering protection rates per route in national and international destinations for those who have a flight date with Ultra Air until April 9.
The Users should go to the Avianca sales offices at the Bogotá, Cali and Medellín airportsuntil the authority delivers detailed information about the passengers who have tickets issued by this airline.
Ultra Air couldn’t take it anymore
Ultra Air operations began a year ago and during this time, the airline carried more than two million passengers. It managed to gain more than 8 percent share in the Colombian air market and highlight more than 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.
However, Ultra Air assured that adverse macroeconomic situations for the industry, such as the increase in the cost of fuel and the exchange rategenerated a substantial increase in costs for the airlines, which led to operating at a loss in recent months.
Besides, the suspension of operations of Viva Air put industry suppliers and aircraft lessors on alert, who will demand immediate payments and even prepayments for supplies and services necessary for the operation, which is unusual in this industry.
As a consequence of all this, and despite the capital injection that Ultra Air received last week from its investors and the requests for support from the national government through the National Guarantee Fund, Ultra Air stated that it cannot continue operating in the country.
ECONOMY
TIME