Viva Air to Launch Direct Flight Between Miami and Santa Marta on December 18

Discount Colombian airline Viva Air will soon begin operating a new international flight between the Colombian coastal city of Santa Marta and Miami in the United States.

Round-trip tickets are already on sale at a promotional price for the route, which will start its first flight on December 18 and operate three times per week thereafter.

Felix Antelo, president and CEO of Viva Air. (Credit: Viva Air)

The carrier expects to transport some 31,000 passengers on the route during the first year between the U.S. city with the most connections to Latin America and, in Santa Marta, a popular domestic tourist destination that is gaining recognition among foreigners, particularly as an entry point to visit the spectacular beaches in Colombia’s Tayrona National Park.

This will be the first international flight that Viva Air will operate from Santa Marta’s Simón Bolívar International Airport, which has undergone a significant modernization effort over the past two years to upgrade its facilities.

Viva Air is also investing more in Santa Marta, a city of nearly half a million people and the capital of the department of Magdalena.

In May, the company named the city’s airport as its third base of operations within the Andean country. Its other two hubs are José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro (located just outside of Medellín) and El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá.

Felix Antelo, president and CEO of Viva Air, said he was pleased that the new Miami route will be giving Colombians living in this area of the Caribbean coast “the opportunity to travel more than just to the interior of Colombia, but abroad, with our low prices.”

The just-under-three-hour flight will depart Santa Marta every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 6:20 am (local time) and land at Miami International Airport at 9:08 am (local time). The return flight will depart Miami on the same days at 10:38 am and touch down back in Colombia at 1:26 pm.

A promotional fare, advertised at $195 USD, will be offered for this route until the available seats are exhausted or through November 17, according to Viva Air’s marketing materials.

(Photo credit: Viva Air)