Growth mode: Copa is among the airlines adding new routes in Latin America. |
BY MARK CHESNUT
What’s behind all the changes and growth? Consider the recent events that have changed air travel in Latin America within the past couple of years: Mexicana Airlines stopped flying. Avianca merged with TACA. Copa Airlines rebranded its Colombian affiliate as Copa Airlines Colombia. And, more recently, LAN Airlines took over Aires of Colombia and renamed it LAN Colombia. Meanwhile, American Airlines is fighting to maintain its dominance in the region as it proceeds through bankruptcy proceedings, while LAN and TAM put the finishing touches on their planned merger, which will create the largest airline in Latin America (I reported about some of this a few days ago in an article for Latin Business Chronicle, “American Airlines’ Latin America Strategy“).
• LAN Airlines’ freshly renamed affiliate LAN Colombia (formerly Aires) launched Miami-Bogota service on February 1. The airline operates four flights per week on Airbus A320 aircraft.
• AviancaTaca, the parent company of Avianca, Taca and AeroGal, last month signed a purchase agreement for 33 Airbus A320neo aircraft, so expect new routes and flights to appear on its route networks in the coming months.
• Volaris is also positioning for growth, and claims to have placed the largest order of a single-aisle aircraft in Mexican aviation history, following an announcement last month that it would acquire 44 new Airbus A320 aircraft, 30 of which will be the more fuel-efficient, longer range A320neo.
• AirTran will begin service from San Antonio to Mexico City and Cancun in May, and parent/partner Southwest will debut flights from California’s John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas in June.
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