As of March 28th, the Colombian airline will begin to reactivate flight routes connecting Central American countries with North American and South American nations.
Restructuring of airlines, preference for direct flights, modifications in the routes operated and the use of smaller aircraft are some of the changes expected in the regional air market in the context of the new business normality.
Air traffic has virtually disappeared in the last three months, as governments in Central America have decided to close borders and suspend commercial flights to and from the region's airports as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
As of February 3rd, Avianca will begin operating a new frequency between the capital of El Salvador and the U.S. city.
The new frequency will leave El Salvador at 6:55 p.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:35 p.m. The flight from the U.S. city will leave at 00:30 hours and will arrive in the Central American country at 7:19 hours.
The airline reported that it will reduce its payroll in the country, as part of the process of organizational restructuring and routes that began this year.
Without specifying the number of employees who will be laid off, Avianca reported that it plans to restructure its operations in the country. This announcement comes in the context of the recent cancellation of routes that the airline operated from other countries in the region.
Starting from August, Avianca plans to operate a flight between the Honduran cities of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, and Boston, in the United States.
The airline announced that on August 17 it will start running four weekly flights that will connect, via El Salvador, Honduran cities to Logan International Airport, in Boston.
Starting from October, Avianca plans to start operating a daily flight between Guatemala City and Chicago, in the United States.
On October 29, the flight connecting La Aurora Airport to Terminal A of O'Hare Chicago International Airport will start operating on board an A320 aircraft with capacity for 150 passengers, 12 in business class and 138 in economy class.
Starting from August, the airline Avianca plans to start operating three weekly flights between Guatemala City and Orlando, in the United States.
Reyna Mejía, commercial director of Avianca, explained that "...'Operations will begin on August 2, three days a week from Guatemala to Orlando and vice versa. The service will use A319 aircraft with capacity for 120 passengers.
Starting in August, Avianca plans to start operating new direct routes between the Salvadoran capital and the cities of Boston and Orlando.
The airline reported that both flights will have four frequencies per week and will depart from Monsenor Óscar Arnulfo Romero and Galdámez International Airport. The flight to Orlando will be inaugurated on August 1 and the route to Boston will begin on August 17.
An announced has been made of a definitive deprogramming of the weekly flight that operated between Buenos Aires and Caracas, citing operational reasons.
Already in August the airline operating under the Argentine flag had announced the suspension of the tickets sales for this flight.Now the company has announced the deprogramming of its weekly flight in definitive form.
Avianca announced that as of July 1 it will be offering a new flight from Tegucigalpa to London via Bogota.
From a statement issued by Avianca:
In line with its expansion and consolidation of its Latin America-Europe network, Avianca will be increasing its flights to London. In this way, the route will be served by a daily flight starting from July 1, adding seven weekly frequencies and promoting connectivity from Tegucigalpa through the Avianca's Connections Center in Bogota. With the operation of these three new frequencies, the airline will increase by 46% its number of seats between Colombia and the United Kingdom, promoting connectivity from different points of the route network.
Avianca has announced adjustments to their operations involving layoffs of flight crew based in Costa Rica and the flight from San Jose to Mexico now going via San Salvador.
Avianca has announced that it has removed three of the Embraer aircraft used in flights to Costa Rica also clarified that services from San Jose to Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile, all via Bogotá will not be suspended, only the number of flight will be changed.
With the entry of two competitors focusing on the business of low-cost fares, the airline market in Central America is preparing for a potential price war.
Panama has become the starting point for tourists looking to travel to the rest of Central America, where new airlines want to capitalize on a market which so far has been driven Copa Airlines and Avianca.
The Salvadoran Civil Aviation Authority has reported that Volaris is arranging for permission to operate a flight from Mexico to Ilopango airport, in the department of San Salvador.
The airline Volaris, owned by Avianca and the siblings Roberto and Maria Cristina Kriete, has requested permission to fly between Mexico and Ilopango Air Terminal, in the department of San Salvador.