On March 14th at 11:35 local time, JetSMART Colombia’s inaugural flight departed from El Dorado airport. The aircraft, with Chilean registration CC-AWZ, covered flight JA 5110 between Bogotá and Medellín, launching the group’s Colombian subsidiary.

JetSMART will have four Airbus A320neo based in Colombia, which arrived from the airline’s main hub in Chile (CC-AWV, CC-AWX, CC-AWZ and CC-DIA).

At present, Bogotá, Cartagena, Medellín, Pereira and Santa Marta are part of JetSMART’s cabotage schedule. Cali will add services to Cartagena in May, and Cúcuta has international flights from/to Lima with JetSMART Perú jets.

Furthermore, Tulum’s airport began international operations. The first airline to start these services was American, on March 28th, with three routes from the United States. A few hours later that day, Delta Air Lines inaugurated flights to the Mexican city.

The next international additions to Tulum will be Canada, Panama and Germany, with services from Air Canada Rouge, Copa Airlines and Discover Airlines, respectively.

We review other highlights of the Latin American market in April:

• Aerolíneas Argentinas and its new Boeing 737 MAX 8.

• avianca launched flights to Montreal from Bogotá, and the new connection effective June.

• Azul will add operations between Campinas and Bariloche, its first route to Argentina.

• British Airways increases frequencies to Sao Paulo from London.

• Copa Airlines starts its third route to Dominican Republic.

• Delta began operations between New York and Buenos Aires with Airbus A330s.

• GOL inaugurated the Sao Paulo – Bogota – Buenos Aires route.

• LASER will fly between Caracas and Madrid.

• SKY Airline took delivery of a new Airbus A321neo.

• United Airlines commenced service to Guyana, its sixth market in South America.

• VivaAerobus inaugurated seven routes at Mexico City’s Felipe Angeles airport.

Aerolíneas Argentinas

Two new Aerolíneas Argentinas Boeing 737 MAX 8s have been recently spotted in the United States. Both airplanes, which already have Argentine registration, maintain the livery of Ukraine International Airlines, as these were scheduled to join the Ukrainian airline, but were not taken up.

The 737 MAX, with registration LV-KIT, performed two test flights, and is currently at Seattle Boeing Field. For its part, the registered as LV-KIU landed in Everett on March 28th from Victorville.

In the short-term, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 LV-KIT is expected to be delivered to Argentina.

Aerolíneas Argentinas’ Boeing 737 MAX 8

• LV-GVD · 6.4 years
• LV-GVE · 6.3 years
• LV-HKU · 6.3 years
• LV-HKV · 6.2 years
• LV-HKW · 5.9 years
• LV-KEI · 2.5 years
• LV-KEJ · 2.9 years
• LV-KKD · 5 years
• LV-KKE · 4.7 years

Aeroregional

Ecuadorian company Aeroregional announced the incorporation of a “new” Boeing 737-500 to its fleet. This aircraft, registration HC-CZD, is 30 years old and comes from Bahamas Air, its last operator.

With this addition, Aeroregional now has five jets in its fleet, between 737-400 and 737-500:

Boeing 737-400

• HC-CWG · 28 years
• HC-CXU · 35 years

Boeing 737-500

• HC-CTF · 33 years
• HC-CUH · 33 years
• HC-CZD · 30 years

Aeroregional’s fleet averages 32 years old.

avianca

As of June 1st, the carrier will commence operations between San Salvador and Montreal. Avianca will offer three weekly flights with 180-seat Airbus A320neo jets.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• AV 622  San Salvador SAL 07:40 · 14:45 YUL Montreal
• AV 623  Montreal YUL 16:05 · 19:20 SAL San Salvador

In addition, on March 31st, the company launched the Bogotá – Montreal route, that will have the following schedule:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• AV 200  Bogotá BOG 14:20 · 22:05 YUL Montreal
• AV 201  Montreal YUL 23:25 · 04:39+1 BOG Bogotá

Air Canada operates three services per week between Montreal and Bogotá using Airbus A330-300s.

Azul

The Brazilian airline will boost its capacity on the Campinas – Bariloche route, which will begin on June 30th. These flights will be operated during the South American winter season, ending in mid-September.

Back in January, when the company confirmed the start of seasonal services to Bariloche, Azul planned four weekly frequencies, and now, with the change in the schedule, it will operate six times a week in the winter.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

• AD 8768  Campinas VCP 10:00 · 14:30 BRC Bariloche
• AD 8769  Bariloche BRC 15:50 · 20:15 VCP Campinas

Wednesday and Friday

• AD 8768  Campinas VCP 10:50 · 15:20 BRC Bariloche
• AD 8769  Bariloche BRC 16:20 · 20:45 VCP Campinas

Azul’s international routes to/from Campinas

Argentina

• Bariloche (BRC)

France

• Paris (ORY): 5 weekly · Airbus A330neo

Portugal

• Lisbon (LIS): 11 weekly · A332/A339

United States

• Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 6 weekly · A332/A339
• Orlando (MCO): 5 weekly · A332/A339

Uruguay

• Punta del Este (PDP): summer seasonal · December to February

Azul will resume flights to Argentina following a four-and-a-half year hiatus.

British Airways

British’s London Heathrow – Sao Paulo route will have an increase of its frequency effective October 29th.

According to its website, the current seven weekly services will be expanded to ten, due to the South American summer season.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday · new flight

• BA 241  London LHR 11:30 · 20:20 GRU Sao Paulo
• BA 240  Sao Paulo GRU 23:40 · 14:10+1 LHR London

Daily (Airbus A350-1000)

• BA 247  London LHR 21:15 · 06:00+1 GRU Sao Paulo
• BA 246  Sao Paulo GRU 16:20 · 06:50+1 LHR London

Flight BA 241/240 will be operated with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

British Airways routes in South America

• Buenos Aires (EZE) via GIG: 7 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• Georgetown (GEO) via UVF: 2 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-1000
• Santiago de Chile (SCL): 3 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Caribbean

The airline will boost its flights to Caracas as of June 29th.

Operations will be carried out on ATR 72-600s with capacity for 68/70 passengers during the high season. At the time of publication, the new frequency will run until August 31st.

Saturday

• BW 300  Port of Spain POS 08:00 · 09:55 CCS Caracas
• BW 301  Caracas CCS 10:45 · 12:35 POS Port of Spain

Wednesday · new flight

• BW 302  Port of Spain POS 15:45 · 17:40 CCS Caracas
• BW 303  Caracas CCS 18:30 · 20:20 POS Port of Spain

Caribbean is the only company to operate between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

Copa Airlines

At 17:34 local time on Tuesday (2), Copa Airlines’ first flight from Panama City arrived at Santiago de los Caballeros airport after a four-year suspension. The carrier will have three services per week with 124-seat Boeing 737-700 airplanes.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• CM 480  Panama City PTY 11:29 · 14:54 STI Santiago
• CM 482  Santiago STI 15:30 · 17:36 PTY Panama City

Copa routes between Panama and Dominican Republic

• Punta Cana (PUJ): 50 weekly · 737/738/7M9
• Santo Domingo (SDQ): 27 weekly · 737/738/7M9
• Santiago de los Caballeros (STI): 3 weekly · Boeing 737-700

Delta Air Lines

The company began flights between New York and Buenos Aires with Airbus A330-900neo aircraft last March 31st. In line with its website, Delta will offer a daily frequency on this route until at least early June.

For the first time, these jets will operate on a regular basis to Argentina, which had previously performed flights from/to Buenos Aires, but were charter or cargo services.

Daily

• DL 249  New York JFK 23:40 · 11:30+1 EZE Buenos Aires
• DL 248  Buenos Aires EZE 21:30 · 07:25+1 JFK New York

The airline was originally scheduled to end service between New York and Buenos Aires on March 31st, but were extended until June.

As well as New York, Delta serves the Atlanta – Buenos Aires – Atlanta route daily:

Regular year-round

• DL 101  Atlanta ATL 22:00 · 09:00+1 EZE Buenos Aires
• DL 110  Buenos Aires EZE 20:00 · 05:30+1 ATL Atlanta

GOL

On April 1st, the Brazilian airline inaugurated services to Bogotá from Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. GOL will perform four flights a week on this route with 186-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.

The company is authorized to carry passengers between Colombia and Argentina under the Seventh Freedom of the air.

Sao Paulo – Bogotá – Sao Paulo

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• G3 8240  Sao Paulo GRU 23:50 · 03:55+1 BOG Bogotá

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• G3 8241  Bogotá BOG 23:45 · 08:10+1 GRU Sao Paulo

Bogotá – Buenos Aires – Bogotá

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• G3 8240  Bogotá BOG 05:50 · 14:20 EZE Buenos Aires
• G3 8241  Buenos Aires EZE 16:50 · 21:25 BOG Bogotá

Routes between Brazil and Colombia (only Bogotá)

• Belo Horizonte (CNF): 5 weekly · avianca
• Manaus (MAO): 4 weekly · avianca
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 11 weekly · avianca
• Sao Paulo (GRU): 32 weekly · avianca (21), GOL (4) and LATAM (7)

Routes between Argentina and Colombia (only Bogotá)

• Buenos Aires (AEP): 7 weekly · Aerolíneas Argentinas
• Buenos Aires (EZE): 14 weekly · avianca // 4 weekly · GOL

JetSMART

JetSMART Colombia launched regular services on March 14th, as we mentioned above. Colombia becomes the fourth South American market with a JetSMART base, after Chile, Argentina and Perú.

Domestic routes of JetSMART in Colombia

Bogotá

• Cartagena (CTG)
• Medellín (MDE)
• Pereira (PEI)
• Santa Marta (SMR)

Cartagena

• Pereira (PEI)

Medellín

• Cartagena (CTG)
• Santa Marta (SMR)

LASER

The Venezuelan company announced it will begin operations to Europe as of June 3rd. In accordance with its website, LASER Airlines will offer three weekly services using Airbus A330-200 wet-lease planes.

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

• QL 2921  Madrid MAD 11:15 · 14:50 CCS Caracas

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• QL 2920  Caracas CCS 18:30 · 09:15+1 MAD Madrid

This is the first time that five airlines will perform flights between Caracas and Madrid:

• Air Europa (UX): 5 weekly · Boeing 787
• Estelar (ES): 1 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Iberia (IB): 5 weekly · Airbus A330-200
• Plus Ultra (PU): 4 weekly · Airbus A330-200

LATAM

LATAM’s Colombian subsidiary inaugurated services between Bogotá and Ibagué (IBE) on March 31st. Operations will be carried out once a day with Airbus A320-200 airplanes configured for 174 passengers.

Check the schedules in LATAM’s reservation system, as each day will have a different one.

Ibagué is located 115 kilometers from Bogotá, the country’s capital. Flights take between 15 and 30 minutes. Apart from LATAM, avianca has two daily frequencies on this route.

LATAM Colombia domestic destinations to/from Bogotá

• Armenia (AXM): 7 weekly
• Barranquilla (BAQ): 54 weekly
• Bucaramanga (BGA): 42 weekly
• Cali (CLO): 80 weekly
• Cartagena (CTG): 70 weekly
• Cúcuta (CUC): 14 weekly
• Ibagué (IBE): 7 weekly
• Leticia (LET): 13 weekly
• Medellín (MDE): 106 weekly
• Montería (MTR): 21 weekly
• Neiva (NVA): 7 weekly
• Pasto (PSO): 11 weekly
• Pereira (PEI): 29 weekly
• Riohacha (RCH): 12 weekly
• San Andres Island (ADZ): 42 weekly
• Santa Marta (SMR): 46 weekly
• Yopal (EYP): 4 weekly

Transportes Aéreos Guatemaltecos (TAG Airlines)

The Guatemalan carrier incorporated its fourth ATR 72-200, which has the registration TG-ATB. As can be seen through our database, the ATR entered service last March 16th with flight 5U 140 between Guatemala City and Flores (FRS), in Guatemala.

TAG has 7 aircraft in its fleet:

ATR 72

• TG-ATB
• TG-ATC
• TG-ATD
• TG-ATF

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

• TG-ATE

Embraer 145

• TG-TAJ

Saab 340

• TG-TAT

Tulum Airport

On March 28th, the international services from/to Tulum Airport (TQO), Mexico, commenced.

As reported in the U.S. and Canada post, American was the first company to begin these operations with three regular routes. To see the schedule, click here.

In addition to American Airlines, Delta launched its flights to Tulum from Atlanta. United inaugurated services on March 31st, connecting the Mexican city with Chicago, Houston and Newark.

Atlanta · Delta

Daily

• DL 1773  Atlanta ATL 11:10 · 13:00 TQO Tulum
• DL 1772  Tulum TQO 14:25 · 18:08 ATL Atlanta

Chicago · United

Saturday

• UA 1950  Chicago ORD 09:13 · 13:00 TQO Tulum
• UA 1951  Tulum TQO 14:10 · 18:05 ORD Chicago

Houston · United

Daily

• UA 365  Houston IAH 09:35 · 11:55 TQO Tulum
• UA 366  Tulum TQO 13:05 · 15:31 IAH Houston

Daily

• UA 1600  Houston IAH 12:07 · 14:25 TQO Tulum
• UA 1601  Tulum TQO 15:35 · 18:00 IAH Houston

Newark · United

Daily

• UA 2031  Newark EWR 10:07 · 13:15 TQO Tulum
• UA 2032  Tulum TQO 14:25 · 19:23 EWR Newark

Upcoming international additions

• Toronto (YYZ): Air Canada Rouge · May 3rd
• Montreal (YUL): Air Canada Rouge · May 4th
• Los Angeles (LAX): United Airlines · May 23rd
• New York (JFK): jetBlue · June 13th
• Panama City (PTY): Copa Airlines · June 26th
• Frankfurt (FRA): Discover Airlines · December 12th
• Denver (DEN): United Airlines · December 19th

United Airlines

The airline began flights between Houston and Georgetown on Monday, April 1st. Guyana becomes United’s sixth South American market after Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Perú.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• UA 437  Houston IAH 16:20 · 23:30 GEO Georgetown

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• UA 438  Georgetown GEO 00:40 · 06:00 IAH Houston

United Airlines routes in South America

Argentina

• Houston (IAH) – Buenos Aires (EZE): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)

Brazil

• Chicago (ORD) – Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner
• Houston (IAH) – Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 7 weekly · Boeing 767-300(ER)
• Houston (IAH) – Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Newark (EWR) – Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• Washington (IAD) – Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Boeing 767-400(ER)

Colombia

• Houston (IAH) – Bogotá (BOG): 14 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
• Newark (EWR) – Bogotá (BOG): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

Ecuador

• Houston (IAH) – Quito (UIO): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

Guyana

• Houston (IAH) – Georgetown (GEO): 4 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

Perú

• Houston (IAH) – Lima (LIM): 7 weekly · Boeing 767-300(ER)
• Newark (EWR) – Lima (LIM): 7 weekly · Boeing 757-200

Last March 30th, the company performed its last service between Houston and Santiago de Chile, which will return at the end of October for the next high season.

VivaAerobus

The Mexican carrier started seven new routes to/from Mexico City’s Felipe Angeles Airport. VivaAerobus will operate with Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo jets:

• Bogotá (BOG): 7 weekly · March 31st
• Chetumal (CTM): 4 weekly · April 1st
• Culiacán (CUL): 7 weekly · April 1st
• Puerto Vallarta (PVR): 7 weekly · April 1st
• San José del Cabo (SJD): 7 weekly · April 1st
• Villahermosa (VSA): 3 weekly · April 1st 
• Tuxtla Gutiérrez (TGZ): 4 weekly · April 2nd

Acapulco, Bogotá, Cancún, Chetumal, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Guadalajara, Havana, Hermosillo, Huatulco, Mazatlán, Mérida, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta, Reynosa, San José del Cabo, Tampico, Tijuana, Tulum, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Villahermosa and Zihuatanejo Ixtapa are the current VivaAerobus destinations at this airport (NLU/MMSM).

7 new aircraft were incorporated by Latin American airlines during the last month, all of them Airbus:

• avianca

• JetSMART

• LATAM (x2)

• SKY Airline

• VivaAerobus (x2)

To read the first report we published in April:

• United States and Canada

Cover photo: Jerfsonlluan – JetPhotos (Sao Paulo, Brazil).