Avianca-TACA will fly daily between Bogota and San Salvador, without stops, from 9 August.
Avianca will be the first company to operate direct flights beween the two countries and in doing so consolidates its network of routes in North and South America.
The planes used for the flights between the two capitals will be modern Airbus A-319 with capacity for 120 passengers.
The Civil Aviation Authority approved 17 new international air routes, many to Central America and the Caribbean.
These include Avianca’s requests to fly to Tegucigalpa, San Salvador, Montreal, Frankfurt, Toronto, Guatemala, Madrid, and La Habana. Most of these will depart from Bogotá and make a stop in Panama with 2, 3 or 7 weekly frequencies respectively.
Shareholders from both companies have merged their stock in a new corporation called “AVIANCA-TACA Limited”.
This is the first step towards building and strengthening one of the largest air route networks in Latin America.
Grupo TACA has contributed its flagship airline TACA Airlines, plus its participation in LACSA, TACA PERÚ, AVIATECA, SANSA, LA COSTEÑA, AEROPERLAS and ISLEÑA.
Colombia's aviation authority authorized the operation of a new holding conformed by airlines Avianca and Taca.
The authorization was granted by "Aeronáutica Civil", the aviation authority, which belongs to Colombia's Transportation Ministry.
"Colombian airline Avianca reported the information on Thursday, adding that the authority granted them authorization 'without reserves'", reported Elsalvador.com.
The Colombian airline Avianca announced its merger with Ecuador's Aerogal.
The announcement was made by Gabriela Sommerfeld, Aerogal's executive president, adding that more details will be available next week.
From Expreso.ec: "... in early 2009, Colombian newspaper Portafolio reported that Synergy Aerospace, owner of Avianca, would acquire up to 80% of Aerogal".
As part of the negotiation process, Avianca acquired 10% of Taca Holdings Group.
The stock purchase is due to accounting and fiscal issues, reported TACA's President Roberto Kriete and Avianca's CEO Fabio Villegas.
"The alliance will require various steps. The first one is the regulatory process, which needs to be approved in El Salvador, United States, Colombia and other countries.
The holding company comprising Avianca and Taca was fiscally registered in Bahamas.
Germán Efromovich, president of Grupo Sinergy, remarked that "Bahamas is the accounting registration of the holding, because it is favorable from a tax point of view".
"Both airlines are part of a holding of which Taca has a 33% share and Avianca 67%. Efromovich explained the proportions resulted from the respective weight of both companies in terms of financial results, assets and passenger volume", reported newspaper La Prensa Gráfica.
Avianca CEO Fabio Villegas announced they are negotiating a strategic alliance between both airlines.
No further detail was known about this potential alliance between Colombia's largest air company and Central America's largest air transportation group, nor if the negotiation includes acquisitions or mergers.