Northwest Aerospace News June | July 2021 — Issue No. 21 | Page 53

WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
In 2019 , according to the Colombian Ministry of Transport , air traffic increased in the country by 9.1 percent with the operation of 40 new international and domestic routes and the entry of four new airlines , allowing an increase of 34 million passengers , compared to 2018 .
El Dorado , located in Bogotá , D . C ., is one of the most important and transited international airports in Latin America , ranked first for cargo traffic and second for passenger transportation . Between 2016 and 2019 , the cargo transportation surpassed one million annual tons , and passenger transportation reached 75.5 million in 2019 , according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Colombia .
The governmental platform , Invest in Colombia , explained that Colombian airports in 2019 operated 5,740 domestic flights weekly and 1,171 direct international flights , connecting 27 countries directly with 26 airlines present in the country .
The continuous growth of the air operations in Colombia has generated the opening of more than 96 MRO shops ( Maintenance , Repair , and Overhaul ). Invest in Colombia stated that in 2018 these companies completed 48,000 aircraft MRO services .
In 2016 , Avianca , the flag carrier of Colombia , opened its own MRO 44,300- square-meter facility , investing $ 50 million at José Maria Córdova International Airport , near the city of Medellín .
Aerospace Market in Colombia
The Colombian market of aerospace parts is based on imported products . Between 2019 and 2020 , imports grew from $ 127 million to $ 135 million , having a compound annual growth rate of 6.37 percent .
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