As announced earlier by the Government of Aruba, the border closure with Brazil has gone into effect since January 25, 2021, due to Brazil being a COVID-19 high risk area. As a result, airlines operating into Aruba from other Latin American countries have been affected and have seen the demand decrease. AUA Airport would like to clarify and inform that nonetheless airlift remains in place from Colombia and Panama.
Certain carriers from the Latin America region have decided to temporarily suspend certain frequencies in the months of February and March 2021. Copa, currently operating three flights a week out of Panama City, Panama will operate two flight per week as of February 2021. Flights will then be on Mondays and on Saturdays. Avianca operating out of Bogota, Colombia will continue to operate 3 weekly flights during February 2021 on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. In March 2021, Avianca will decrease their frequency and will operate on Fridays and Saturdays. Wingo confirmed their commitment today that they will continue to operate two weekly flights for the entire year 2021 but has yet to confirm if they will consider less frequencies for a temporary period, or not.
The closure of the border with Brazil, as expected, has influenced the frequencies of the Latin American carriers as these flights also carry passengers from the Brazilian market through their gateways in Colombia and Panama on to Aruba. The Aruba Tourism Authority is monitoring this closely and will be activating, wherever possible, efforts to strengthen the Latin America market. Aruba continues to be open for all markets except for Brazil, Venezuela and Peru at this time.
