Evaluation: We Flew Colombia’s New Low Cost Carrier JetSmart; Here’s How it Went (Video)

The demise of Viva and Ultra Air last year left a big void in Colombia’s domestic aviation market. Jetsmart was already flying international routes to and from Colombia, but announced that it would create a Colombian subsidiary to fly domestic routes between Colombian destinations.

Jetsmart’s CEO Estuardo Ortiz was on hand, and we were even able to get a few words with him before the flight boarded.

Finance Colombia Executive Editor Loren Moss flew their inaugural domestic route last month, between Bogotá and Medellín; his first time ever flying JetSmart. The airline also plans route cooperation with US-based American Airlines, which is a major investor in JetSmart, along with US private equity firm Indigo Partners.

Indigo Partners LLC is a private equity firm established by W. A. Franke in 2003 to pursue acquisitions and strategic investments in the air transportation and related industries. The firm was a lead investor in Tiger Airways based in Singapore and Spirit Airlines based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and maintains lead investments in Wizz Air Holdings, Plc, a ULCC with multiple bases in Central and Eastern Europe; Frontier Airlines, a ULCC based in Denver; Volaris Airlines, a ULCC based in Mexico City; Cebu Pacific, a ULCC based in the Philippines; and JetSMART, a ULCC based in Chile. Indigo is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Have you flown JetSmart? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.