Official LAN Inaugural

With flights on Mondays and Thursdays

LAN Colombia is prepared to bring more tourism to Aruba

A 50% growth is envisioned for the coming year

ORANJESTAD, Aruba – December 2, 2013: After a few months of negotiations, in the early morning hours of Monday LAN landed an Airbus 320 for the first time on Aruba. The aircraft has a seating capacity of 174, of which 90% was already occupied for the inaugural flight! The flights are scheduled to leave Bogota on Wednesdays and Sundays at 10:40 p.m. and arrive on Aruba at 1:40 a.m., the return flights leave at 2:30 a.m. from Aruba and arrive at 3:10 a.m. in Bogota.

Peter Steinmetz, CEO of Aruba Airport Authority thanked LAN for finally landing on Aruba. He used the word “finally”, because they could have started the flights a few months ago, but the company decided to postpone this for a few weeks to allow the airport to complete maintenance work on the landing strip that had been taking place on evenings. “I hope that we will not have to stay open until the early morning hours only twice a week, but that soon you will increase the flights. I am confident that, considering the demand and capacity of your flights, that this will come about soon. The airport is ready and willing to work with you on this.”

During the speeches that took place on Monday in the VIP Room at the Airport, LAN Colombia’s Commercial Director, Christian Ortiz, said that “LAN Colombia is not only a bridge between Colombians and Arubans, but passengers will also be able to connect easily to Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and, even, Brazil. We do keep in mind that of the 1 million tourists who arrive on Aruba each year, 24% are from destinations where LAN or TAM has operations, this means that there is great potential for the Aruban market.”

Natalia Castenada Ramos, tourism manager for LAN, assured that their prognosis shows that the tourism market from Colombia to Aruba will grow with 50% over the coming year. At present 18,000 Colombians come each year to Aruba and the intention is for this number to grow even more with the connecting flights that LAN offers within Colombia, as well as to its other international destinations.

“I am extremely honored, because this is the first time that we have a second flight - since in 2000 Air Aruba stopped flying; that we have been successful at attracting a second airline to carry out flights arriving from such an important hub which is Bogota. And in this case, it is not just any airline, but one of the three largest in Latin America,” Otmar Oduber, minister of tourism, pointed out.

LAN announced during the special event that they have appointed Maduro Travel as their representative on Aruba, offering four locations strategically located island wide. LAN is confident that in their hands, the airline will only continue growing.

“At ATA, we do not focus only on Colombia, but surely as well on the opportunity that we now have to increase tourism from other markets such as Brazil. In regards to the tourism strategy of Aruba, the LAN flights are a great and important step,” according to Ronella Tjin Asjoe-Croes, Aruba Tourism Authority CEO.

LAN Colombia was founded a mere two years ago; the company has grown to become the second largest Colombian airline, with at least 20 national destinations within Colombia and four international destinations. LAN is a member of TAM Airlines of Brazil, which his considered one of the largest airlines in the world. LAN and TAM working together, service 120 destinations worldwide with 350 aircraft and a capacity to move more than 54 million passengers per year.