VIVA inaugurated its flights between Medellín (MDE) and Punta Cana (PUJ), marking its landing in the Dominican Republic for the first time.
After an inauguration ceremony at José María Córdova International Airport (MDE), flight VH 458 departed at 12:00 (local time) for Punta Cana, arriving at 15:21 (local time).
“We are very motivated by the inauguration of a route that promotes tourism and the economic development of the entire region, such as Punta Cana,” said Felix Antelo, CEO of VIVA.
VIVA will have four flights a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays), with onward connections to Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, and Lima in Peru.
The company expects to transport more than 50 thousand passengers during its first year of operations on the route.
This inaugural flight will be joined this month by the start of operations of 14 other routes and one international route from Cali to Cancun, bringing the total number of international connections to thirteen.
“In this sense, our route network will continue to grow and provide more connection opportunities to all travelers with Colombia and the world, through our HUB Medellin,” Antelo said.
¡Hoy es viernes de playa en Punta Cana! ✈🏖 @VivaAirCol sigue creciendo a nivel internacional desde nuestro Aeropuerto, su hub de conexiones, por eso celebramos esta nueva ruta y las nuevas experiencias que despegan con ella. ¡Felicidades a todo el equipo que lo hace posible! 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/8yeH4KxwjJ
— Aeropuerto Internacional José María Córdova (@AeropuertoMDE) March 18, 2022
Competition from VIVA
According to information obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium, Avianca and Wingo currently connect the Dominican Republic and Colombia with between 4 and 7 daily flights. As of April 2022, both companies will have 12,660 seats per week, of which 8,152 are to Punta Cana, with the following routes:
- Bogota – Punta Cana – Bogota: Avianca (14 weekly flights) and Wingo (4 weekly flights).
- Bogota – Santo Domingo – Bogota: Avianca (7 weekly flights) and Wingo (5 weekly flights).
- Medellín – Punta Cana – Bogotá: Avianca (6 weekly flights) and Wingo (4 weekly flights).
- Medellín – Santo Domingo – Medellín: Wingo (2 weekly flights).
In 2021, both companies transported 115,463 passengers between both countries. This represented a recovery of 99.48% compared to 2019 when 116,061 travelers were transported. However, if compared to the last quarter of 2021 the figure is 40.87% higher than the same period pre-pandemic.
