Viva has recently added Orlando flights to its Miami flights in the US, and increased flights between Medellín, Colombia and Miami to four daily, up from one daily round trip. The carrier has also launched flights to México City and Cancún.

The latest aircraft delivered has the livery nickname “Efecto Viva” after the phenomenon the airline says occurs when competitors lower their prices significantly whenever Viva enters a new market. The Viva Effect, as it is translated to in English, is also the name of a corporate history book recently authored by Viva board member Rupert Stebbings.

The book starts off with a glowing account of the airline’s creation, almost superlative in its description of the personalities involved. However, in the second half the book takes a frank and candid tone when approaching the airline’s growing pains, internal conflict among the founders & investors, missteps, lost battles, and public relations “chicharrones” as they say in Spanish.

While the first half of the book introduces us to the founders and initial investors, the second half gets more serious taking us behind closed doors as the airline metamorphosed from a scrappy startup with 5 aircraft to a well-run enterprise with “adults at the yoke” like current CEO & former LatAm executive Felix Antelo, that continues in growth mode with over 30 new Airbus A320neo aircraft on order and new routes while competitors are mired in bankruptcy.

The book contains a few minor typos that are forgivable for a first edition, and as someone familiar with the subject matter, I would take issue with the author’s description of the bus service in Colombia. While it is true that Viva Air is now in many cases even less expensive (and certainly faster and safer) than bus travel, the major new bus lines for some years now have issued assigned seating in modern motor coaches with bathrooms and onboard Wi-Fi.

On the other hand, I admire the author’s candid recounts of the airline’s early struggles and bootstrap mentality. Safety was never compromised, but the airline struggled at first with e-commerce, reservation systems, and messaging. They eventually got their act together, but fortuitously for the protagonist, it happened simultaneous with the operational meltdown of their main competitor.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in Colombia, Commercial Aviation (especially the new low-cost model pioneered by Ryanair & Southwest), entrepreneurship—especially outside of the tech/software sector, and even corporate finance. It is a fun but informative read, written in a frank but irreverent style that matches the airline itself.

“Viva Air is proud to return to Barranquilla with two routes to and from the city,” said Viva Air’s CEO Felix Antelo. “We return with our new aircraft, as the most punctual airline in the country, and with the best prices in the market. Surely we hope that thanks to our ’Viva Effect’ air fares will fall by 30%.”

The announced flight schedule is as follows:

Air fares begin at $70,000 COP ($22 USD) each way to or from Bogotá and $80,000 COP ($25 USD) to or from Medellín.

“The arrival of Viva Air is a demonstration of the growth potential in the city and the airport development for the region. The new facilities, the modernization of the space, the technology and the development of this concession opens the doors of Barranquilla to the world,” said Mariela Vergara, manager of airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Caribe.

Barranquilla’s Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport moved 2,637,946 passengers in 2018. Of these, 2,359,123 were Colombian, and 278,823 were international. Viva Air projects it will carry 300,000 passengers in its first year of operation from the coastal airport.