This morning Latin American commercial aviation was shaken by the announcement of the creation of a new holding company that will control Avianca (and consequently Viva) and GOL, called Abra Group.
See also: Breaking: Avianca and GOL to be controlled by the same holding company
It incorporates the historic Roberto Kriete as chairman of the board, Constantino de Oliveira Junior as CEO and Adrian Neuhauser and Richard Lark as co-chairmen.
While there is some way to go before all regulatory requirements are met, a milestone expected to be reached in the second half of 2022, let’s look at how Abra Group would be constituted:
Fleet
Both companies have a total fleet of 262 aircraft, according to information obtained by Aviacionline through the ch-aviation intelligence engine.
- Avianca has 120 aircraft distributed among its different subsidiaries, 13 wide-body and the rest single-aisle A320 family aircraft. The average age is 9.8 years.
- Gol’s fleet consists of 142 737 family aircraft: twenty-one are 737-700s, 89 are 737-800s and 32 are 737-8s. They have an average age of 10.5 years.
Network
Together, Avianca and Gol will have a presence in 125 cities in the Americas and Europe, with a network of almost 300 routes (overlapping in only 8 destinations).
- Avianca operates to 66 destinations in 22 countries in the Americas and Europe, with a network of 130 routes. In May it has 16,435 flights scheduled with 2,710,297 seats on offer, as can be seen through Cirium.
- Gol operates to sixty-seven destinations, most of them in Brazil. Internationally, it flies to Asuncion, Buenos Aires, Cancun, Miami, Montevideo, Orlando, Paramaribo, Punta Cana and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The network consists of 146 routes. In May, 16,135 flights are scheduled with 2,835,791 seats.
Traffic
- In 2021 Avianca mobilized fourteen million passengers, a recovery of 45% compared to thirty million in 2019.
- Gol carried 18.8 million passengers in 2021, 51% of the 36.2 million in 2019.
Other
- Avianca has around 12,000 employees and GOL 14,000.
- Avianca’s LifeMiles loyalty program has more than 10 million members, while Smiles has 17.6 million.
- In 2019, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, Avianca had revenues of USD 4.62 billion, and GOL’s reached USD 3.4 billion.
To all this should also be added, if necessary, the operations of VIVA, the ultra-low-cost airline based in Colombia and a subsidiary in Peru that just a fortnight ago was reported to be taken over by Avianca, which has a fleet of 23 A320neo family aircraft and mobilized almost five million passengers in 2021. And, although a few steps further away, Chile’s SKY, also with a subsidiary in Peru and 28 A320 family aircraft.
