Colombia Travel Forum

I’ll be traveling to several South American countries this summer and one of my flights connects through Medellin, Colombia.

Has anyone out there connected through this airport? If so, do you have to clear customs before going to your connecting flight and how much time do you need?


Thanks in advance for your advise!

Depends....if coming from international connecting to domestic you always have to clear immigration (passport control) and customs (retrieving your luggage).
I assume you are talking about MDE, Rio Negro, airport, the larger-international-airport of Medellin as Medellin has 2 airports. (the other one only domestic).
And depends if you have an on-line/interline/off-line connection.
You should give more details.

I have travelled frequently through/to/from Medellin airport(s).

Thanks for the quick response. You are correct, it is MDE. I will be arriving from Caracas and departing to Panama City. Both flights are operated as Copa by AEROREPUBLICA.

Ah...it that case you will be in-transit and no need to go through passport control nor customs. As you have an on-line connection your luggage will be labeled through to PTY. You will receive your boarding cards at the first check-in so when arriving at MDE you can go to the assigned gate immediately.

I never connected international-to-international at MDE but the airport is (as many are in Colombia) very efficient. As is AeroRepublica.

There was a publication here in Colombia 2 weeks ago (by the local aviation authorities) stating that AeroRepublica has the best on-time performance here.