Air travelers across Colombia and on key routes to the United States are facing fresh disruption after a new wave of cancellations affected at least seven flights operated by major carriers including Avianca, United Airlines, and Aeromexico.

The latest cancellations, centered on the weekend of January 17 to January 19, 2026, have hit services linking Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Pasto, Miami, and Newark, underscoring the persistent fragility of regional and international air connectivity in the country.

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Seven New Cancellations Hit Colombia’s Busiest Corridors

The newest set of disruptions spans both domestic and international routes and touches three of Colombia’s largest airports: Bogota’s El Dorado International, Cali’s Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International, and Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova International Airport. According to operational data compiled from airlines and airport sources, seven flights have been cancelled rather than delayed or rescheduled, forcing passengers to scrap or substantially rework travel plans.

The cancellations include an Avianca service from Cali to Pasto, a domestic trunk link between Medellin and Bogota, and international services operated by United Airlines and Aeromexico connecting Colombia with Newark and Miami. While individual cancellations are not uncommon across Latin America’s busy aviation markets, the concentration of suspended flights on a few high-demand corridors has amplified the impact on travelers, particularly those using Bogota as a connecting hub for onward journeys across the region or to North America.

These seven new cancellations arrive on top of a pattern of recent disruption across Colombia’s network. In December 2025, more than 30 flights across Colombia and Peru were cancelled on select days, affecting cities such as Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cali, Medellin, Bogota, and Lima. That episode highlighted growing operational pressures on carriers serving the Andean region and left many travelers wary of relying on tight connections through Colombian hubs.

Although weather has periodically affected flight schedules during the Southern Hemisphere summer, industry observers point instead to a combination of aircraft availability, crew scheduling, and congested peak-hour traffic at Bogota and Medellin as the main drivers behind the latest wave of cancellations. Airlines have mostly declined to provide detailed public explanations, citing standard “operational reasons.”

Cali and Pasto Routes Disrupted as Regional Connectivity Suffers

Southwestern Colombia has been particularly affected by the newest interruption, with a canceled Avianca service between Cali’s Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport and Antonio Narino Airport in Pasto drawing attention to the vulnerability of secondary regional routes. The affected flight, scheduled for midafternoon on Saturday, January 17, was withdrawn from operation, leaving passengers bound for the mountainous Nariño region scrambling to find scarce alternative seats.

For travelers in Pasto, air connections are a lifeline, given the region’s topography and the lengthy overland travel times to major urban centers. A single cancellation on the Cali–Pasto corridor can ripple through family visits, business trips, and medical appointments, particularly for passengers who had timed their journeys around specific festival dates or public events in January. Local tourism bodies in southwestern Colombia warn that repeated cancellations on regional routes risk eroding visitor confidence at a time when domestic tourism is a key pillar of economic recovery.

Alfonso Bonilla Aragon itself has experienced an uneven start to 2026. While real-time tracking data show many Avianca flights between Cali and Bogota operating with only minor delays, the cancellation of selected services to smaller destinations such as Pasto underlines how airlines often protect frequency on trunk routes at the expense of thinner regional links when operational constraints bite. Travelers flying from U.S. gateways to Cali via Bogota are therefore advised to build in longer connection windows if their final destination involves a short-haul onward leg into Colombia’s interior.

Airport officials in Cali have urged passengers to arrive early and monitor airline notifications closely, particularly for weekend departures when the schedule is most compressed. Ground staff report higher-than-normal numbers of rebooking and compensation queries at ticket counters as passengers seek to salvage trips affected by the Cali–Pasto disruption and other schedule changes.

Medellin–Bogota Corridor and United’s Newark Service Affected

In the country’s northwest, Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova International Airport has again emerged as a focal point of disruption. Among the seven newly cancelled flights are services linking Medellin with Bogota and Newark, New Jersey, involving both Avianca and United Airlines. United’s operation to Newark is understood to have been cancelled on at least two occasions in recent days, including an early morning departure on Saturday and a late-night service originally scheduled for Monday.

The cancellations on the Medellin–Newark route are particularly disruptive for travelers using the U.S. airport as a major connecting hub for flights throughout the Northeast and to Europe. For many passengers, losing a nonstop option means being rebooked through Bogota or another Latin American hub, often with overnight layovers or lengthy detours. Some travelers have also reported being shifted to alternative United flights from Bogota, which can add domestic connections and additional security checks to already complex itineraries.

On the domestic side, Medellin’s short-hop corridor to Bogota remains heavily used by both business and leisure travelers, with frequent daily departures. Nevertheless, Avianca’s cancellation of at least one Medellin–Bogota service during the disruption period underscores the strain on crews and aircraft operating this high-intensity route. Real-time schedules still show multiple daily departures on other Avianca Medellin–Bogota flights, but even a single cancellation can cause passenger loads to spike on remaining services, raising the risk of bumped passengers and tighter seat availability.

Travel agents in Medellin report a noticeable uptick in customers asking to switch to earlier flights or add extra buffer time on itineraries involving connections in Bogota or international departures. The pattern suggests that frequent travelers are adjusting their risk calculations in response to the latest operational issues at Medellin’s main gateway.

Bogota Hub Under Pressure as Aeromexico Cancels Miami Service

At Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport, Colombia’s primary hub, the latest wave of cancellations has once again highlighted the delicate balance between incoming and outgoing international services. Among the seven new cancellations is an Aeromexico-operated widebody flight from Bogota to Miami, which was scheduled to depart on Saturday evening. The withdrawal of this flight has immediate consequences for passengers with long-haul connections through Florida or onward travel within the United States.

Aeromexico’s Bogota–Miami connection, typically operated by a twin-aisle aircraft, forms part of the broader Latin American–U.S. corridor that is vital for Colombian tourism, trade, and family visits. With that service cancelled on a peak travel evening, passengers faced rebooking onto alternative itineraries that may route through Mexico City, other U.S. gateways, or later Miami departures. Travel industry sources describe a scramble in airport departure halls as airline staff attempted to reassign passengers whose trips depended on timely arrival in South Florida.

Despite the cancellation, Bogota’s status as a regional hub remains robust. Long-haul flights such as Avianca’s service to Madrid and transatlantic departures to European cities continued to operate with only modest delays over the same period, according to live tracking data. However, the simultaneous strain on domestic and regional services has stretched ground operations, from check-in queues to baggage handling, contributing to longer dwell times for connecting passengers.

Airport operators in Bogota have reiterated that passengers with tight international connections, particularly to the United States, should monitor flight status repeatedly on the day of travel and remain in close contact with their airline or travel agent. With multiple carriers adjusting schedules at short notice for “operational reasons,” even routes that appear stable a day in advance can be subject to late changes.

The seven newly cancelled flights in Colombia do not exist in isolation. They follow a broader trend of schedule instability across the Andean region that became increasingly visible in late 2025. In December, more than 30 flights were cancelled across Colombia and Peru over a series of evenings, with major Colombian airports in Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cali, Medellin, and Bogota all affected.

Those December cancellations involved a mix of airlines including Avianca, low-cost carriers, and regional operators, and affected key domestic and international routes. Among the most heavily impacted sectors were flights from Barranquilla and Cartagena to Bogota, from Cali to Bogota and Cartagena, and from Medellin and Bogota to other Colombian cities. Many of the cancellations occurred during evening departure waves, amplifying the knock-on effect into the following day’s operations as aircraft and crew rotations were disrupted.

Industry analysts at the time cited a convergence of factors: airlines rebalancing capacity after a rapid post-pandemic rebound in demand, tight aircraft availability during heavy maintenance periods, and growing congestion at hub airports during peak hours. While many airlines in the region have improved on-time performance and reduced cancellation rates compared with the immediate post-pandemic years, the December episode demonstrated that the system remains vulnerable to concentrated shocks.

The latest incident, involving seven new cancellations concentrated around the weekend travel window, appears to be a continuation of that pattern, rather than an isolated event. For frequent flyers and corporate travel managers, it serves as a reminder that contingency planning is still essential when routing through Colombian hubs, especially on itineraries that rely on narrow connection times or involve multiple carriers.

Airlines’ Operational Challenges and Reliability Concerns

Avianca, Colombia’s largest carrier and a key player in the latest disruptions, has generally reported improved reliability in recent operational updates, including a sharp reduction in total cancellations through 2025. Yet the current pattern of selective cancellations on specific days or routes reveals the delicate trade-off airlines make between preserving broader schedule integrity and withdrawing isolated flights to manage limited resources.

For carriers such as Avianca, United, and Aeromexico, fleet utilization is under constant scrutiny. Aircraft undergoing scheduled maintenance, crew reaching duty-time limits, and ground handling constraints can all contribute to short-term decisions to cancel a flight outright rather than incur cascading delays across an entire network. In that sense, a small number of targeted cancellations can be seen as a containment strategy designed to protect the reliability of dozens of other flights.

However, for travelers on the affected routes, such decisions translate into missed connections, additional hotel nights, and unplanned expenses. Passenger advocates in Colombia argue that airlines must do more to provide timely notification, clear explanations, and adequate compensation or alternative transport options when cancellations occur. They also call for clearer regulatory guidance on passenger rights when flights are cancelled for reasons other than severe weather or airspace closures.

The repeated targeting of specific corridors such as Medellin–Bogota, Cali–Pasto, and Bogota–Miami for cancellations is drawing particular scrutiny from consumer groups. These routes often carry a high proportion of visiting friends and relatives traffic, students, and small business travelers, demographics that tend to be more sensitive to out-of-pocket costs when trips are disrupted at short notice.

What Travelers Should Do If Their Flight Is Affected

Travel experts recommend that passengers flying to or within Colombia over the coming days adopt a more cautious approach to trip planning. That begins with monitoring flight status closely using both airline communications and independent tracking tools, as schedules can change rapidly in the 24 hours before departure. Passengers should also ensure that contact details in their booking are up to date so that airlines can issue timely alerts about cancellations or rebookings.

For itineraries involving connections through Bogota, Medellin, or Cali, travelers are being advised to avoid the tightest possible layovers where feasible, especially when linking a domestic arrival to a U.S.-bound or European long-haul flight. Building in an extra hour or two of buffer time can significantly reduce the risk of missing a connection if an inbound domestic segment suffers a delay or is rescheduled.

Those whose flights are cancelled outright should contact their airline or travel agent as quickly as possible to secure rebooking options, as alternative services can fill up fast when multiple cancellations hit the same route on a busy travel day. In some cases, it may be worth asking about rerouting via alternative Colombian or regional hubs if a direct or traditional connection is unavailable. Travelers with flexible schedules may also inquire about shifting departures to off-peak days when operational pressure tends to be lower.

Passengers are further encouraged to review their travel insurance policies to understand what coverage exists for cancellations, missed connections, and additional accommodation costs. With operational disruptions likely to persist intermittently across Latin America’s busiest corridors, comprehensive coverage has become an increasingly important element of trip planning for both leisure and business travel into and out of Colombia.