Dominican airline Arajet has launched a “Hot Sale Colombia” promotion, offering discounted base fares for international travel originating from major Colombian hubs. The campaign targets passengers departing from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, José María Córdova International Airport in Medellín, and Rafael Núñez International Airport in Cartagena.

The promotional window is scheduled to run from March 16 through March 22, 2026. During this period, the airline is offering base fares starting at $1 USD. These rates apply to international routes within the carrier’s network and are available across all four of the airline’s service tiers: Basic, Classic, Comfort, and Extra.

Agressive fares through Q3 2026

According to the carrier, the travel window for tickets purchased under this promotion extends from April 15, 2026, to September 30, 2026. The availability of these fares is subject to seat capacity on specific flights. The initiative follows the carrier’s broader strategy to increase its market share in the Colombian aviation sector, which is regulated by the Unidad Administrativa Especial de Aeronáutica Civil (Aerocivil) under the Ministerio de Transporte.

Arajet commenced operations in September 2022 and currently maintains its primary hubs at Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo and Punta Cana International Airport. The airline utilizes an all-Boeing fleet, consisting of 14 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft (NYSE: BA). The carrier’s network connects the Dominican Republic with various destinations across North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. In 2023, the airline was recognized as the “Best New Airline in the World” at the CAPA Aviation Trust Summit. The airline’s operations are overseen by the Instituto Dominicano de Aviación Civil (IDAC) in its home jurisdiction. Detailed pricing and baggage policies for the current promotion are available through the company’s digital booking platform.

Above photo (courtesy Arajet): Arajet employees wave flags and take press photos to commemorate the launch of a new route from Medellin to Santiago, Dominican Republic.

The third-quarter EBITDAR represents a 15.5% year-over-year increase from the $356 million USD reported in Q3 2024. Total operating revenues reached $1,509 million USD, marking a 12.8% increase compared to the $1,338 million USD recorded in the same period of the prior year. Total operating costs increased by 13.3% year-over-year, settling at $1,290 million USD. Net income for the quarter was $101 million USD, an improvement from $72 million USD in Q3 2024.

Operational and Capacity Metrics

Capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs), reached 18,284 million, denoting a 6.8% increase compared to Q3 2024. This growth was attributed primarily to a 6.2% year-over-year increase in Stage Length. Passenger departures increased 1.0% year-over-year. The company transported 9.7 million passengers, consistent with the volume in the comparable period of 2024. The network encompassed 169 routes serving 83 destinations across 28 countries. Subsequent to the quarter’s close, Avianca introduced three new international routes, which included Belém (Brazil) and Monterrey (Mexico).

Cost performance for the quarter indicated a reduction in overall per-unit costs. Total Passenger CASK (Cost per Available Seat Kilometer) was 5.7 cents, a 1.9% decrease relative to Q3 2024. This decline was largely driven by Passenger Fuel CASK, which decreased 9.9% to 1.7 cents, resulting from lower fuel prices and increased fuel efficiency. Passenger CASK excluding fuel increased 2.1% year-over-year to 3.9 cents.

Balance Sheet and Credit Rating Actions

As of September 30, 2025, Avianca reported liquidity totaling $1,361 million USD, which represented 24.2% of last-twelve-month revenue. This total includes a cash balance of $1,161 million USD and $200 million USD available through an undrawn Revolving Credit Facility. The Net Debt to last-twelve-month EBITDAR ratio improved sequentially to 2.8x from 2.9x reported on June 30, 2025.

Rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch  upgraded Avianca’s credit ratings to B1 and B+ respectively. Both rating actions were assigned a stable outlook.

Business Unit Performance and Network Development

The cargo division, Avianca Cargo, recorded $157 million USD in revenue during Q3 2025, representing a 14.1% year-over-year increase. The operating freighter fleet currently consists of nine Airbus A330s, following the integration of two additional P2F aircraft during the quarter.

The loyalty program, LifeMiles, reported a 72% year-over-year increase in Q3 2025 Third-Party Cash EBITDA, reaching $77 million USD.

In network strategy, AGIL expanded its Business Class service to 54 additional routes from key operational centers including Bogotá (Colombia), Medellín (Colombia), San Salvador (El Salvador), Quito, and Guayaquil (Ecuador). The company’s passenger operating fleet totaled 161 aircraft as of September 2025, including 134 Airbus A320 family aircraft, 15 Boeing 787s, and 12 Airbus A330s.

Avianca is a member of Star Alliance  and is part of the Abra Group. The Abra Group also controls Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A.   and holds a strategic investment in Wamos Air .

Above photo: Avianca A330F cargo jet (photo courtesy Avianca)

The group has secured agreements for up to seven Airbus A330neo aircraft. These aircraft are intended to support the international expansion strategy for the group’s member airlines, facilitating medium and long-haul operations. The A330neo features a 14% reduction in fuel consumption per seat compared to the A330ceo model and generates an approximate 60% reduction in airport noise pollution, according to manufacturer specifications. This order supplements a previous 2024 order with Airbus (EPA: AIR, OTC: EADSY) for five A350-900 aircraft, which are scheduled for integration into the fleet in the coming years.

In the narrow-body segment, Grupo Abra exercised 50 options for the Airbus A320neo. This action increases the total commitment for the model to 138 units scheduled for delivery through 2032. The narrow-body order book consists of the 138 A320neo aircraft combined with 96 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, which are scheduled for delivery through 2030. The total commitment comprises 234 narrow-body aircraft. Boeing (NYSE: BA) is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The initial A320neo aircraft from the new commitments, which will feature the Airbus Airspace cabin, is scheduled for delivery to Avianca by the end of 2025. This model will incorporate XL stowage compartments, which offer up to 60% more space than current configurations, and dynamic LED lighting. Additionally, these aircraft are specified to be equipped with three rows of premium seats, arranged in a two-by-side format, which was developed by Recaro specifically for the airline.

Adrian Neuhauser, CEO of Grupo Abra, commented that the announcement confirms the group’s investment alignment with its objective to increase air travel accessibility and to position itself as a competitive air transport group in Latin America. He stated that the incremental A320neo order addresses both replacement and growth requirements for the current narrow-body fleet.

Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, executive vice president of sales at Airbus Commercial Aircraft, noted that the selection of the A350, A330neo, and A320neo models reinforced the strategic relationship with Grupo Abra. He highlighted the A350’s performance in long-haul operations and characterized the A330neo as a new-generation complement to the Group’s existing A330 operations.

Headline Photo: Adrian Neuhauser. Avianca CEO. Photo credit: ALN/YouTube.

The flight will be operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and depart Bogotá at 1:25 pm, landing at 6:40 am at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

The return trip will leave Paris at 8:40 am, arriving at 12:40 pm back to El Dorado International Airport in the Colombian capital, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

“Thanks to the work articulated with governments, authorities, and airports in Colombia and France, we are very proud to bring Latin America closer again with one of the main tourist destinations in Europe, which joins the cities we have already reached: Madrid, Barcelona, and London,” said Frederico Pedreira, CEO and president of Avianca in the company’s announcement.

“In addition, this route allows European tourists to visit our continent since, from the Colombian capital, they will be able to connect with more than 50 national and international destinations offered by Avianca.”

As noted by the executive, this marks Avianca’s fourth destination in Europe with direct service from Colombia.

Overall, the Bogotá-based airline will now fly to 26 countries, with Paris marking the carrier’s 76th destination.

The flight, which will have a stopover in Miami en route to the Colombian capital, is set to have its inaugural takeoff in early June, according to the UAE-based airline. It will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft that seats up to 354 passengers and can haul 20 tons of cargo on each flight.

The final red tape hurdles to launch the route included formalities including approvals by Colombian aviation regulator AeroCivil.

“Emirates is excited to launch our daily service to Bogota and connect Colombia to the Middle East and beyond,” said Salem Obaidalla, senior vice president of  commercial operations of the Americas for Emirates, speaking at the Routes Americas 2024 event in Bogotá.

The airline says it has working toward this day since 2018, when it began to participate in local industry events and pave the way for its eventual authorization with a range of aviation and business sector stakeholders in the nation.

“The addition of Bogotá to our growing global network of more than 130 destinations,” added Obaidalla, “allows us to strengthen our coverage in the Americas, reaching 19 points, and reinforces our ability to deliver better connectivity and expand options for travelers while providing our signature premium services.”

(Photo credit: Emirates)

Tickets on sale now through the end of the month to many Arajet destinations across the Americas will have a base fare of only $7.37 USD (not including taxes and fees), a sum that offers a nod to the carrier’s fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet of planes.

In addition to flights at airports that the Santo Domingo-based airline serves in Bogotá, Medellín, and Cartagena, passengers may be able to find this fare available to destinations in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and more.

In the case of farther-away locations in Brazil, the company notes that promotional tickets will instead be available for $73.70 USD (not including taxes and fees).

The promotional rates will be available subject to availability for flights departing between October 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024 (with blackout dates from December 14, 2023, to January 15, 2024).

On September 15, the actual date of one-year anniversary, Arajet will host an event in Santo Domingo with “music, surprises, and gifts for attendees” that celebrates the operations thus far and several soon-to-launch routes.

Specifically, Arajet will soon kick off new routes from:

• Santo Domingo to Sao Paulo (on September 21)
• Santo Domingo to Toronto (October 24)
• Santo Domingo to Santiago de Chile (October 29) Montreal (November 7)
• Santiago de los Caballeros to Bogotá (October 30)
• Santo Domingo to Buenos Aires (November 14)

The $4.2 billion proposal is reportedly for the Colombian Air Force to acquired 24 new F-16 Block 70 fighter jets worth $108 million per aircraft, while an alternative proposal of roughly $3.1 billion would provide the military with 16 of the same aircraft. Each proposal is said to include the training, inventory, construction of the hangars for the play, runway adaptation, and a flight simulator, and would likely require the Colombian Air Force to update and adapt its bases to the needs of the new planes. 

If a proposal is accepted, the first three aircraft are expected to be delivered to Colombia around 2028, with the remaining aircraft being delivered sometime between 2029 and 2030.

The F-16 Block 70 planes, among other things, have advanced APG-83 AESA radar systems, a better Center Pedestal Display to help pilots with their situational awareness, as well as an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System that Lockheed Martin developed to lessen the likelihood of pilot deaths and deadly crashes. 

In a separate proposal, Colombia is being offered Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Boeing for $177 million and AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons from Raytheon for $225 million.

This new proposal comes as the Colombian government has been looking to replace the Colombian Air Force’s current fleet of F-21 Kfir fighter jets. Swedish company Saab AB and Dassault Aviation of France have submitted competing offers in the past that Defense Minister Iván Velásquez had previously considered. 

Velásquez and the Colombian government will be waiting for new offers from Saab and Dassault before they are expected to make a decision towards the end of May or June. Previous talks have occurred with the companies but Velásquez said in January that they were unable to come to an agreement during the previous budgeting window.

Both airlines state that a concentration of prime slots (landing and takeoff rights, and access to boarding gates) at Bogotá’s overcrowded El Dorado International Airport would be bad for passengers, bad for competitive pricing, and bad for competition in the Colombian aviation market. Presumably it would be bad for competing airlines as well, as Avianca or its holding company would directly control slots during prime hours.

Not only does this mean that business travelers to Bogotá from around Colombia, who when possible fly in and out within 24 hours, would limit their choices to Avianca-controlled slots, but competing airlines would find it difficult to schedule connections through Bogotá: for example, a passenger flying from Cali to Riohacha, while connecting through Bogotá would not be able to enjoy reasonable connection times on airlines other than Avianca, or possibly an Avianca-controlled Viva.

Jetsmart today issued a statement regarding the matter stating (translated by Finance Colombia):

As an interested third party and after a detailed analysis of the consequences that the integration of Avianca and Viva Air may have on the market and users, Jetsmart filed an appeal with the Colombian Civil Aeronautics Authority (Aerocivil).

Without prejudice to sharing the position taken by Aerocivil, while the entity ordered conditions to the transaction, Jetsmart presented the appeal in question, on the understanding that these conditions do not fully mitigate the damages that the integration of Avianca and Viva Air may cause for the market and especially for new entrants.

In line with the above, Jetsmart:

1. 1. 1. 1. Insists on the need for Aerocivil to regulate the reallocation of slots (take-off and landing rights) in order to guarantee the competitiveness of the sector, since allocating slots is equivalent to allocating market shares, especially at El Dorado Airport in Bogotá.
         2. It is important that access to slots to take place on a timeline and form that allows new operators to access the bands of greatest demand, thereby strengthening competition and supply to users.
         3. It emphasizes the need for Viva Air to return all the slots assigned to it prior to its cessation of operations.

Latam issued a statement stating (translated by Finance Colombia):

Based on the decision of the Civil Aeronautics of Colombia to approve the integration of Avianca and Viva Air with conditions, Latam Airlines Colombia carried out a rigorous analysis of the decision to understand its scope and effects in the Colombian market.

As a result of this analysis, we see that the authority made progress in establishing some measures, aimed at protecting the passengers affected after the suspension of Viva Air operations on February 27.

Despite the above, Latam Airlines Colombia considers that still in the conditioning of slots (takeoff and landing slots) at El Dorado Airport it is necessary to define some criteria and elements in such a way that inefficiencies are not generated in their use, which could reduce the effectiveness of this measure as a remedy for the anti-competitive effects of integration. To this extent, the company, as an interested third party, has decided to file an appeal with the objective that the aeronautical authority can take these considerations into account in a second instance of the process in such a way that the capacity of the existing infrastructure can be optimized, generating growth opportunities for other operators for the benefit of the passenger.

It is worth noting that, despite Viva Air’s suspension of operations for more than a month, this airline has not yet formally returned the slots at El Dorado Airport to the aeronautical authority. In this sense, to date there has been no reassignment of structural slots to other air operators.

At the same time, Latam Airlines Colombia will continue its work to offer connectivity alternatives for the country as it has been done up to now. In this sense, as a result of the situation in the aviation sector, five Airbus 320 aircraft were incorporated, representing an additional 210,000 seats per month and a 20% increase in the supply in the Colombian market. Likewise, it has hired 220 Viva Air workers, including pilots, cabin crew and maintenance technicians, who today are already attending to the additional capacity that Latam Airlines Colombia incorporated into the country.

This new offer has been oriented to attend to the cities with the greatest impact and that have special relevance for the tourist activity of the country, such as San Andrés, Santa Marta, Cartagena and Pereira. Along the same lines, on March 28, [Latam’s] Bogotá-Riohacha route began operations with seven flights a week. In addition, a new offer has been generated for the business tourism segment, key to the country’s economic activity, in cities such as Medellín, Barranquilla, Cali and Bucaramanga.

Specifically in San Andrés, in addition to the Latam Airlines Colombia operation of nine daily passenger flights to the Island, Latam Cargo Colombia made eight flights during the month of March with a Boeing 767 cargo plane, which transported more of 97 tons of supplies, with a view to meeting the island’s supply needs at this juncture.

Regarding the situation of the sector, Santiago Álvarez, executive director of Latam Airlines Colombia, maintains that “these have been turbulent times for the Colombian airline industry. However, the ability and decision of operators such as Latam Airlines Colombia to protect the connectivity of Colombia and maintain alternatives to the consumer was demonstrated.”

The Dominican Republic has a very strong reputation as a tourist destination, but now, a group of entrepreneurs hope the country can become both a hub for travel in the way that Copa has made Panamá a connection point, and home for a competitive low-cost airline with Caribbean flavor. Finance Colombia’s executive editor Loren Moss was able to speak to Victor Pacheco Mendez, the CEO and co-founder of Santo Domingo based Arajet. The low cost airline startup is already running routes between the Dominican Republic and regional destinations throughout Colombia, Perú, Ecuador, México, Central America, even island destinations such as Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten and Jamaica.

Finance Colombia: I remember years ago there used to be Dominicana de Aviación but then for a very long time there has been no flag carrier in the Dominican Republic. The founder of VIVA—one of the co-founders, William Shaw was in the region, he was working on something but then he left to go and do other things; why has it been such a challenge to get an airline launched to cover the Caribbean and to be based out of the Dominican Republic?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Well, I think that if you, if you research the failures within the whole Caribbean, you find that the list is huge, so there is a reason for that and a lot of it has to do with, most of the carriers that have tried to start in the region have been mainly opportunistic carriers that find some ethnic roots or somebody with some money that thinks that they can do some type of operation, but this is the first time that somebody really tries the ULCC (Ultra Low Cost Carrier) business model in the Caribbean.

Arajet CEO and founder, Victor Pacheco Mendez

So, I think that the first thing was figuring out what was the right model and once we did that—and William was one of my seed investors so, William was with us, I hired him in the beginning. At that time, we were called Flycana. A good friend of mine, William. But eventually his dad was falling ill, he was living in Mexico and he got the opportunity to go to Interjet and basically, of course he continues to be a shareholder in Arajet, but he left to do that.

And it took us out a long time, to get Arajet done because it was about putting together the right pieces; it was about convincing the government on changing regulations, to legislate on behalf of the commercial aviation space, it was about being able to compare the DR fiscally to other hubs and be able to convince the government that we have to able to have to have the corporate environment to be equal to other jurisdictions so that a local carrier could compete within the same, let’s say, environment, and that wasn’t the case when we started the journey so, we had to advocate and we continue to do so, we still have some what we called barriers that we are working [on] strongly with the government.

I think, if you see the newspapers of two or three days ago the [Dominican Republic] president said that he is sending from his office legislation that will make the DR (Dominican Republic) more competitive from a fiscal point of view. So, it’s been just a very difficult ride, just with the government piece alone has been very challenging and then besides that of course, we have assembled a team of experts that have built ULCC carriers in other continents, in other regions. In Latin América, for example, our COO is Garret Malone, who was the COO of Viva when Viva started in Colombia, eight years he was the COO of Sky Chile, so having Garret as COO tremendous experience, a veteran, it’s a great thing, he’s a great team member to have and then it was about finding the right capital provider.

We sold the business plan since 2017, 2018. We almost got funded in 2019 and then in 2019, we missed the boat, which is now a very good thing that we did, because then COVID came along. That would have been death! And then, in 2021 once the scare of COVID was leaving we went back to the institutional markets to sell our business plan again and we found a lot of interest. It was incredible, we were almost running an RFP to see who our capital provider was going to be and the main choice was not about valuation, for us the main choice was about who’s the right partner, who do we think as a firm, will support us and will believe in our vision of what we believe we can achieve with Arajet and about chemistry, you know

We ended up selecting Bain Capital and Griffin Asset Management just because we felt that with this guys were a good fit for us and now, I can confirm that having been working with them a little bit more than a year, that these are great partners to have, they, you know really believe in the vision that Arajet has.

Finance Colombia: Now, being based out of the Dominican Republic it’s interesting because for a long time the Dominican Republic has been an attractive tourist destination, but you have you already have some competition. For example, Viva flies between Medellín and Punta Cana, Wingo flies to Santo Domingo, if you look in other countries, American Airlines has historically jealously guarded its Caribbean routes and been very aggressive to try to battle competition when it comes between let’s say Miami and the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, which has always been a popular route. How would you stay profitable or reach profit and then defend your market and grow your route network against such entrenched competitors?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Look, Loren, we’re not inventing the wheel. I think that we’re applying the game book or the playbook that other ULCCs have used before. If you look at our 18 routes that are now on sale at https://www.arajet.com/  we only have direct competition in three routes, meaning there are 15 uncontested routes. This [strategy allows us] to mature and give you that oxygen that you need. So, it’s about serving brand new routes and about a mix…about some competition but when we finish creating our network of 54 routes, we will only have direct competition in about 25 of them, at that point.

So, it’s about when do you launch routes where you compete and how you grow brand new, existing routes and you have to try to balance out that. But the good news, and what you can potentially say about us that we will not compete with one carrier for more than six percent of our entire network

Finance Colombia: Now, I look at your route network. You are covering in the Caribbean Kingston, (Jamaica) some of the small islands like Aruba, Curacao, Saint Martin. What about destinations like the US market or Puerto Rico which is “kind of-sort of” the US market but certainly with Puerto Rico’s close ties to the Dominican Republic; What are your plans there? Do you have plans to expand outside the Latin American countries?

Because it looks like you’re already very mature and well along the way as you go, and I would think that also Santo Domingo could be a good kind of a transit point, if look at it. I am not telling you what your strategy should be, but I’m kind of asking the question: If you look at what Copa has done by making Panamá a connector between South America and North America, I always wondered, let’s say if I was flying from the US through a Caribbean destination maybe to a destination in South America, is that all viable? Do you have that in your plans?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Without a doubt. The reason why we will connect 54 routes from Santo Domingo is because Santo Domingo will be a hub where we will be transferring passengers. So, if you look at what we have done, imagine now when we go north, we are going to fly to 17 destinations in North America that includes Puerto Rico. when we go north, we are not only taking the DR up north now, we managed to get a footprint in South America and Central America and the Caribbean. So, when we go north, it gives us some leverage because in the US you do have more of a competitive environment.

So, you can’t get away with operating, you know, 80% of your routes brand new, you are going to have more competition. So, that’s why people ask us: “how come you don’t fly into the US?” Well, we will fly to the US. We will fly to 17 points into the US but we needed to get a base down South into Central America and the Caribbean so that when we do fly into the north, we have the possibility to offer connections.

Finance Colombia: That’s smart. I think that if you look at the airline that Mr. Shaw started, they went international, went into Panama a bit early in their life, and had to retrench and pulled back out. But when they got stronger, then they went into US and now they have routes into Miami and Orlando and, I know that they have publicly said that they have some other ones in the works going into South America…Brazil, Argentina now.

So tell me, you mentioned some of the institutional investors, tell me about maybe a little bit about your history and the management what’s your background, I would imagine that you have been in the airline industry?

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Yeah, I started initially—it was the first airline in the Dominican Republic to ever operate new generation equipment. I initially started with an (Airbus) A320 chartering out of the Dominican Republic. The more confidence I got, the more I learned. That’s how I got the idea of changing to a ULCC model, but Arajet exists on top of that. Arajet is a reformatting of that charter that was called Dominican Wings.

Before the airline activities, I was in commercial banking, financial services, business development, real estate development, but I come from a family…my grandfather is an entrepreneur by the name of Victor Mendez Capellán. All of his businesses where focused on the diaspora.

So, in the sixties, he was the first IATA travel agent in the country, and he was responsible for sending a lot of Dominicans to work in the free zones in New York when we were living through a depression in the DR, so thousands and thousands of families, he managed to help them finance their trips to go work there and eventually all of the family would join them. So after that, that brought in American Express, so he represented American Express in the DR, and then that success brought him Western Union and he was the first agent ever, when Western Union went International. DR was the pilot and it had to do with his entrepreneurial track record. So, today he is 94, and his company which is now a commercial bank conglomerate, tends to the diaspora and they still exclusively represent Western Union.

Finance Colombia: Remesas Vimenca? I know them well.

Victor Pacheco Mendez: Yeah. That’s my grandfather. That bug inside of me because I worked with him for many years—what else can we do for our people? What else can we do for the diaspora? And an airline was…it wasn’t really about an airline. Initially, it was about how can I lower travel [costs] for our people? And how can we continue growing and supporting them? The only thing was that he thought that my idea was too ambitious, so he didn’t support me with capital.

He supported me with his heart and wished me well, and that is why it took me too long to get this done because you know I’m not a wealthy individual. I had to find partners and I had to raise money. In 2018, I raised my first $2.5 million (USD) in order to get this done and then we capitalized Arajet and with Arajet, we the retail value of the order we did with Boeing with the help of Bain and Griffin was up to the tune of three billion dollars’ worth of aircraft.  I never imagined it was going to be such a big transaction.

You know, now, we are the first airline ever in Latin America to be born with brand new aircraft and I was trying to solve for lower fares for the country, but it was a tremendous amount of factors, when we we met the people from Bain and they saw the vision, they said, ‘you know, we really believe in this but a country without having a carrier, a successful carrier of this scale needs an OEM meaning an aircraft manufacturer to be in the country as strategic partner,’ my business plan was leasing aircraft.

And so they said, ‘look, we really need to sit down with you because we don’t believe in this unless there’s an OEM based in the DR and to do that we need to buy planes from them.’

And so now, Boeing is established in the DR and they accompanied Arajet from the maintenance, technical and flight point of view, which is tremendously helpful and is the first phase of a partnership that will be successful.

Finance Colombia:  Wonderful. I appreciate you spending so much time with us. I cannot think of anything more difficult than to starting an airline, the only thing more difficult is making it successful. So, we are really glad to see you and want to see your continued success.

Headline photo: Arajet approach at Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten (courtesy Arajet)

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