The United States and Colombia have amended their Air Transport Agreement to include seventh-freedom rights for cargo-only flights to thus facilitate the growth of cargo carriers from both countries.
The two countries signalled their intention to amend the 2011 ATA in 2018 but only finalised this change on July 27, 2022. According to the amendment, US-registered carriers will be able to operate cargo-only services from Colombia to a third country without stopping in the US. A reciprocal right has been awarded to Colombian operators.
"The rights in the amendment facilitate the movement of goods throughout the world by providing air carriers greater flexibility to meet their cargo and express-delivery customers' needs more efficiently. [The amendment] fully opens the Colombian air cargo services market to US carriers and represents one way in which the US government is delivering for US air carriers and American workers," the US Department of State said in a statement.
"For Colombia, the modernisation of the Air Transport Agreement with the United States has great relevance considering that during the first half of 2022, 249,552 tonnes of freight were carried between the two countries, representing a growth of 11.4% compared to the same period last year when 224,065 tonnes were carried," Colombia's Minister of Transportation Ángela María Orozco added.
The ch-aviation schedules module shows that the Bogotá-Miami International route is extensively served by scheduled cargo carriers, including avianca cargo, Atlas Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Cargojet Airways, LATAM Cargo Brasil, and Martinair (Netherlands), in addition to express carriers and charter flights. The Medellín José Maria Córdova-Miami route is served by Avianca Cargo and LATAM Cargo.
