Gran Colombia de Aviación (Cali) has taken delivery of its first aircraft, a B737-400 (msn 27005). Formerly YR-BAK with Blue Air (Romania) (BLA, Bucharest Henri Coanda), the 25-year-old twinjet was ferried to South America from Tucson International late last month, Skyliner Aviation reported last week.

A unit of Venezuela's Avior Airlines (9V, Barcelona José Antonio Anzoategui), Gran Colombia de Aviación was authorized by the Colombian civil aviation authority (Unidad Administrativa Especial de Aeronáutica Civil - Aerocivil) to employ B737-400 equipment on flights from its Cali base to each of Valencia Arturo Michelena International (7x weekly) and Miami International (7x weekly).

It was also given the go-ahead to deploy Fokker 50 equipment on domestic Colombia flights connecting Cali with each of Ibagué Perales, Tumaco, Guapi, Pasto, Neiva, Barrancabermeja, Bucaramanga, Cartagena Rafael Núñez International, Puerto Asis, and Florencia Gustavo Artunduaga Paredes.

As it stands, the start-up is understood to be in the process of securing its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) ahead of the launch of operations later this year.