Viva Air Captures Market Share During Pandemic, Now 2nd Largest Colombian Airline

Despite a several month-long travel ban in Colombia due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, Medellín based Viva Air captured significant market share to become the second largest air carrier in Colombia based on passengers flown.

During 2020, the airline flew more than 1.9 million passengers on more than 12,000 flights, increasing its market share from 15% to 24%.

Viva Air increased its market share in Colombia from 15 to 24% in 2020, despite the Coronavirus Pandemic and complete closure of Colombian airspace from March to October

Viva Air opened a new base of operations in Cali and inaugurated six new routes in 2020 from Colombia’s third largest city. This allowed the airline to close the year with 29 national routes, three international routes and a load factor of 92% since the restart of operations.

In compliance with biosafety protocols and to ensure the health of its passengers and collaborators, Viva Air was the first airline in the country to obtain the ‘Certified Check In’ biosecurity seal developed by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, ‘Operaciones Bioseguras’ awarded by ICONTEC, and the ‘Safe Travel’ international designation from the UN backed World Travel & Tourism Council.

Viva Air CEO Felix Antelo welcomes passengers on the airline’s inaugural flight from Medellín to Cali

“At Viva we are transforming ourselves and finding opportunities in the changes that the pandemic imposed on us. We are going through the deepest crisis in the global aviation industry, where resilience, commitment and adaptation were our best allies to consolidate ourselves as the second most important airline in the country. Along the same lines, our ‘Low Cost’ model became our key tool to get ahead. The figures demonstrate the speed with which we have recovered and confirm that more and more travelers trust our biosafety model and protocols. Our model proved to be the correct one, since efficiency and cost optimization were key milestones to move forward,” said Félix Antelo, CEO of Viva Air.

“Our commitment to a totally new fleet, always having low prices for travelers, and attributes such as punctuality and route network, made 2020 a year that confirms the advantages of Low Cost,” added Antelo.

For its part, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the airline and the well-being of its collaborators, the company implemented various actions that allowed the conservation of the employment of its 851 direct personnel, 713 in Colombia and 138 in Peru. Viva also claims that it generated and preserved a total of 1,760 indirect jobs in Colombia during 2020, and since the beginning of operations in 2012, Viva has transported 27.7 million travelers as a group, between Colombia and Peru, over 182,000 flights. The on-time rate for 2020 was 93%, earning it the designation as the most punctual airline in Colombia

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