The Avianca crisis has allowed other Colombian carriers to increase their operations: Although the crisis produced by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected aviation worldwide, there are exceptional cases of airlines that took advantage of this crisis and knew how to move forward and increase their operation and presence in the market.
These exceptions are not unrelated to the Colombian airline industry, where the growth of airlines that lagged behind Avianca has been evident.
Wingo Increases Its Capacity
Wingo, the Colombian low-cost carrier received an additional Boeing 737-800 for its fleet, which allows the airline to increase its capacity in the domestic and international market, by adding 1.3 million new seats to fly throughout its route network.
This increase in the number of seats that Wingo now has on the market will allow the airline to add more flights on the routes it already operates while continuing to explore possible new destinations to offer all Colombians who want to fly with pleasure and not at cost.
According to Portafolio, from March 27, 2022, Wingo will increase its flights on the following domestic routes:
- Cartagena – San Andrés: 3 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Santa Marta: up to 12 weekly flights on peak season
- Bogotá – Cartagena: 12 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Medellín: 10 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Cali: 9 weekly flights
Since its arrival in the Colombian market, Wingo has established itself as the largest low-cost airline in Colombia in terms of the number of international routes operated, and with this increase in its capacity, Wingo will also increase its flights abroad.
Some of these increases will be available from March 2022, as the following:
- Bogotá – Panamá: 7 weekly flights
- Cali – Panamá: 4 weekly flights
- Medellín – Panamá: 7 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Quito: 6 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Guayaquil: 4 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Cancún: 10 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Punta Cana: 5 weekly flights
- Bogotá – Santo Domingo: 6 weekly flights
- Medellín – Cancún: 4 weekly flights
- Medellín – Punta Cana: 4 weekly flights
- Cali – Cancún: 3 weekly flights
Sarpa Starts Operations from Dec. 15
Sarpa, a company that operates air ambulances and charter flights, announced that starting this Dec. 15 it will start commercial operations.
According to La República, the routes that Sarpa will operate are the following:
- Rionegro – Aruba
- Barranquilla – Aruba
- Rionegro – Pasto
- Rionegro – Valledupar
- Rionegro – Riohacha
- Rionegro – Villavicencio
- Rionegro – Curazao
- Cali – Valledupar
- Cali – Riohacha
Sarpa also received the authorization from the Civil Aeronautics to operate on 21 additional routes that will gradually come into operation
- Rionegro – Leticia
- Cali – Montería
- Cali – Leticia
- Montería – San Andrés
- Villavicencio – Cartagena
- Rionegro – Quito
- Rionegro – Guayaquil
- Cali – Quito
- Cali – Guayaquil
- Cali – Nueva Loja
- Cali – Esmeraldas
- Cali – Curazao
- Cali – Aruba
- Montería – Panamá (Marcos Gelabert)
- San Andrés – San José de Costa Rica