The Colombian airline’s growth comes in a context of global disruptions for the air travel industry. According to an estimate by Boeing, global air travel will only return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hit the industry. Lockdowns, stricter health protocols and mobility restrictions heavily impacted consumer confidence, which has yet to fully recover from the effects of the pandemic.

The numbers illustrate this issue clearly: global air travel demand went down by 58.4% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. In this context, Viva continues to perform as one of the few airlines in the world to achieve positive results this year.

“The authorized routes will offer a new range of possibilities to air transport users to find more alternatives within the market, provide more connection points within and outside the country and ratify the commitment of the national government to support the economic reactivation of the sectors derived from air activity, which already reaches 20 million passengers mobilized and is expected to reach 30 million by the end of 2021,” said Camilo Pabón Almanza, Colombia’s vice-minister of transportation.

The company keeps betting on its low-cost model to expand operations through its hub in Medellín. Starting in November, Viva will increase flights from Medellín to Miami to 14 per week, Medellín to Lima and Medellín to Mexico City, both with one daily flight, Medellín to Cancún with five daily flights, and Medellín to Orlando with three weekly flights. These add to the already existing 32 routes to beach towns such as San Andrés, Cartagena, Barranquilla y Santa Marta.

Colombian civil aviation authority Aerocivil had already approved Viva flights from Bogotá and Medellín to Cordoba and Buenos Aires in Argentina; Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, more than doubling Viva’s international reach. Now, the airline has received approval for 65 new international routes, as well as new domestic routes.

“On behalf of the aviation authority, we will continue to be committed to reactivating air transport, allowing connectivity between different parts of our country and the country with the world. With this, we seek to offer more and more alternatives for the benefit of users and the possibility of providing better connectivity opportunities,” said Jair Orlando Fajardo, Aerocivil’s director.

Approved New International Routes

Cali Flights To Cancún & México City

Today, Viva also announced that it is launching international flights between Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, and the Mexican destinations of Cancún and México City beginning March, 2022. These will be Viva’s first international routes to and from Cali’s Alfonso Bonilla Aragon airport in the suburb of Palmira. Viva says that its entry into the market for Cali-México routes should cause an overall reduction in airfares between these destinations of up to 35%. The low-cost carrier also indicated that it expects to carry 100,000 passengers on these new routes in its first 12 months of operations.

Viva President Félix Antelo

Tickets have already gone on sale via Viva’s website, and flights between Cali and Cancún will operate Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays beginning March 22, 2022. Routes between Cali and México City will run Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays beginning March 23.

“Cali is an essential part of the Viva destination network and our commitment to this city is strong. That’s why we have added to our offering these two new direct international routes to México City and Cancún, expanding connectivity from Cali to two new destinations. Since opening (Cancún & México City routes) in August, they have had an excellent reception from Colombian travelers who now know that with Viva they can travel internationally at super low cost,” stated Félix Antelo, President & CEO of Grupo Viva.

A Plethora Of New Domestic Routes Approved

In addition to the 65 new international routes that Aerocivil approved for Viva, they also approved the following domestic routes. Though these routes have been approved by regulatory authorities, Viva has made no official announcement of any of these new routes nor have they released a schedule. They are currently taking periodic deliveries from Airbus on an order of 50 new A320neo aircraft.

Certain routes are interesting in light of Avianca’s recent tie up with Colombian competitor EasyFly, a domestic airline that specializes in flying to smaller cities. For example, Easyfly had the Bucaramanga Cúcuta route to itself, and now may codeshare with Avianca, as Avianca is releasing its ATR72 turboprop fleet. Now Viva will compete directly on these short-haul routes such as Armenia – Medellín (160 miles) or Bucaramanga – Cúcuta (122 miles). In much of Colombia’s mountainous terrain, road travel can take many hours, making air travel a much more feasible alternative. For example, Medellín to Bogotá is only 257 miles away but can take 10 hours-if there are no traffic jams, mudslides, or accidents along the way. On the other hand, a flight is 40 minutes and usually costs less than ground travel anyway.

Approved New Domestic Routes

Photos: Loren Moss except Felix Antelo, courtesy Viva

One differentiating factor with EasyFly and its smaller commuter-style turboprop aircraft is its utilization of Medellín’s Olaya Herrera municipal airport, rather than the José Maria Córdova international airport in the Medellín suburb of Rionegro, used by commercial jet carriers.

Domestic carrier Easyfly specializes in connectivity with Colombia’s secondary & tertiary cities.

Since flights restarted in Medellín, Easyfly reports that it has transported approximately160,000 passengers with direct flights to: Cali, Montería and Apartadó with up to three daily flights. Pereira with up to four daily flights, Armenia and Manizales with one daily flight. Bucaramanga with two daily flights and Quibdó with up to five daily flights.

From Medellíin, Easyfly also connects with Cúcuta on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Ibagué Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. And Corozal with five frequencies: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The airline is the largest flight operator from the Enrique Olaya Herrera airport in Medellín, and with a connection in Cali, also reaches Pasto and Puerto Asís

Easyfly operates 34 direct routes throughout Colombia with a presence in 28 cities.

Colombia already has major ports in Buenaventura on the Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic ports in Cartagena, Barranquilla and Santa Marta; not to mention riparian ports along the navigable Magdalena River. This new port, along with major highway construction projects upgrading the road connectivity, is expected to increase the competitiveness and lower the transportation cost for the export and import of goods into Colombia.

Finance Colombia executive editor Loren Moss was able to speak with the project manager Andrés Bustos (above) to learn more about the historic project.

Finance Colombia: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role within the project, what responsibilities do you have in the Puerto Antioquia project?

Andrés Bustos: I represent the firm PIO Puertos: Puertos Inversiones y Obras within the project, we manage the project.

Finance Colombia: Why did they conceive of making another port in the Atlantic coast, connecting it to Antioquia? We have ports in Cartagena, we have ports in Barranquilla and in the Magdalena River. Why did they decide to build another port, this time in the Urabá Gulf, connected with the Department of Antioquia?

Andrés Bustos: The answer, really Loren, is very simple. We decided to get into it, and work on this project, basically because it makes sense, because it’s socially viable, and economically viable. Urabá has a strategic location in the country compared to the other ports in the Atlantic coast, it’s 350km closer to 70%-75% of Colombia’s GDP, which means in the future, the logistical savings and the improvement in competitiveness make this a well-conceived project. On the other hand, Urabá by itself has a commercial and productive dynamic which is interesting enough for the existing base that allows this project to have a very important cargo volume assured. Third and not least, the institutional framework and the need to carry out this project for the regional social development of the community in Urabá. That was what motivated us, basically.

Finance Colombia: You just made a deal with Global Infrastructure Partners and received an additional $110 million USD project funding. How is the construction going and what stage of construction are you in? When do you expect to have the project done and open for cargo? And tell me about the usage of this funding and its importance.

Andrés Bustos: The importance of the deal with Global Infrastructure Partners in the project is that this is one of the largest infrastructure funds in the world, and they are demonstrating their belief in Colombia, which has honored us already with the trust they place in us by approving these resources and this credit, as you’re saying. $110 million USD gives a very important boost to the development of the project. We can tell you that the works contract is signed with COTEMA Consortium, represented by Eiffage and Termotécnica Coindustrial, and that leads us to the final stage for construction to begin. The target date is something that we are not necessarily communicating openly, so we prefer to keep going until we have all the details done and not commit to a specific deadline yet, but we certainly are in the final stages.

Finance Colombia: How has the progress of the construction been affected by the COVID pandemic we are facing? Has this pandemic affected the progress of the project?

Andrés Bustos: No doubt the COVID-19 issue changes our schedules and demands additional plans and changes we didn’t have in mind. We’ve faced it with efficiency. The premise has been to take care of the workforce, of the people, not only the project team but the business partners, of the builders, and the contractors. We have developed a series of contingency plans so by the time they start work, all the necessary precautionary measures are taken. Of course assuming that there is such turbulence in the economy, the indicators are suffering considerable damage, but the project as such in its financing is not being affected at the moment. We hope, we expect that this situation improves soon so that the contractors can move and complete the work.

Finance Colombia: Exactly, and I imagine it is very important. I imagine it is key as the progress they are making in Ruta al Mar, because that would be like a main road to connect Urabá with Medellin and with the rest of the country, right? I think it’s going very well, the construction of the road from here, from Medellin, to there in Urabá.

Andrés Bustos: Yes, Ruta al Mar 1, Ruta al Mar 2 and the Toyo Bypass; those three works are advancing very well, we have high optimism in those works, and also Pacific 1, Pacific 2 and Pacific 3 because they will allow us to connect not only Antioquia but also the Eje Cafetero (coffee region) and the center of the country with Urabá, so we see that those works are advancing and of course, that is positive for us.

Yesterday, for example, they announced what they call El Cale, the union of the two ends in the second western tunnel, which is the one that will allow the completion of the four-lane highway between Medellin and Santa Fe de Antioquia, that’s very important.

Finance Colombia: I imagine that with all of that, the port will change the import and export traffic of Colombia, because until now, Medellin and the Eje Cafetero don’t have connectivity to the sea. They have to go through Buenaventura or to Cartagena or Barranquilla, I don’t know what the traffic flow is, but throughout that important region of the country, Medellin, Eje Cafetero, we talk about Pereira, we talk about Manizales, we talk about everything. We are talking about all of the industry that we have is already growing in export of cattle. Colombia just signed a free trade agreement with Israel. For fruit it has always been about bananas and plantains, but now avocados, and I imagine that this port is going to change the traffic flow, so I wonder, what would be the effect for Medellin and the southern departments of Antioquia, who until now haven’t had direct access to the sea, I imagine the impact will be big.

Andrés Bustos: Yes, that is what we have seen, that is what the financiers have seen as well, and definitively Puerto Antioquia is a project that we have already categorized, and the banks have as well, as having a high impact for development, and that has several meanings. First, it effectively contributes to competitiveness of the country, both the producers and the exporters, that is to say, to reduce the distance by 350km because that makes both import and export products more competitive and that will have a positive impact to the final consumer in the costs and prices. It has a direct impact on the competitiveness of the country, and the second reason, no less important, is the very high impact for the development of the Urabá region in terms of employment, but not only quantity of employment but the quality of it and the establishment of new companies, and the final goal is economic development and progress. It’s a big social responsibility we have.

Finance Colombia: I’m glad to hear that because I remember my first time in Buenaventura, which was around 15 years ago, 2004, or 2005, and a very sad thing I saw is that there was a lot of traffic in the port, but it wasn’t contributing to Buenaventura. The wealth went to Cali and the rest of the country, but Buenaventura stayed underdeveloped. You have a role to play, a commitment to improve and develop the Gulf of Urabá because I don’t know very well, but I know the region a little and I’ve seen a lot of potential but little attention. And I’m glad to hear that this project has a great role to develop the Gulf, the region, Apartadó, Turbó, those areas where you are and provide employment to the people in the north of Antioquia.

That would be very important, and I hope that not only you but this project and the development we are experiencing is going to make some positive changes. I hope you keep us posted and I’d like to know about the progress.

The initiative was kicked off in 2016 in a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and aims to sign up more “unbanked” Colombians for formal financial products and generally educate people about the various services offered by the Bogotá-based bank.

The “route” aspect of the campaign comes from the fact that Banco de Bogotá has been driving a bus around to rural areas of the country to reach people outside the population centers.

READ MORE: Banco de Bogotá to Bring Its ‘Financial Inclusion’ Program to 50 More Municipalities

This second phase of the program, throughout the first quarter of 2018, will focus on the department of Antioquia, where two different vehicles will lead the campaign and help grant the nearly $3.5 million USD (10.3 billion pesos) in micro-loans that will average around $1,700 USD (5 million pesos).

In January, Banco de Bogotá has planned stops in Caucasia (January 11), Tarazá (January 18), and Valdivia (January 25). Then the following month, the buses will visit the following municipalities: Mutatá, Chigorodó, Carepa, Apartadó, Turbo, Necoclí, San Juan de Urabá, and San Pedro de Urabá.

Photo: Banco de Bogota’s “Route of Financial Inclusion” bus campaign. (Credit: Banco de Bogotá)