As per link below (in Spanish), Emirates Cargo is requesting frequencies to Colombia (and other countries) and Air Canada is requesting approval to fly twice per week to Cartagena; with either Airbus 319/20/21 type aircraft or Boeing 767. We all know Rouge recently announced return flights Toronto - Cartagena (once per week), so the fact this is being discussed at this meeting is just a formality.

http://www.aerocivil.gov.co/eventos/_la ... on=default

Interesting the request from Gran Colombia de Aviación (which I have been told is the same Avior group from Venezuela) to set a base in Cali with a bunch of routes (mainly regional, a couple national / international).

Clearly Avior wants to set a foot in Colombia (perhaps to diversify risk in Venezuela), and take advantage of lack of air service to Venezuela to set and additional int´l route (VLN-CLO-MIA).

I wonder what would be Aerocivil response to this, perhaps not allowing the segment VLN-CLO and approving the others.

By the way, hopefully this thread for Colombia aviation news will remain....good initiative!

Definitely a good initiative I agree!!! Why did these Colombian threads stop? The Colombian aviation market/sector is one of the healthiest and one of the biggest in South America as far as I know. I hope this thread remains too.


A388

As a follow up to Colombia Aerocivi's GEPA most recent meeting, seems 'Gran Colombiana de Aviación" got the go ahead to become a new player in the Colombian market. Ibagué and Cali have been tagged as hubs for this new venture; which has Venezuelan capital invested.

The venture has 180 days to confirm if it will accept Aerocivil's conditions to start operations (the article does not say what those condition's are)

Link below (in spanish only)


http://www.dinero.com/empresas/articulo ... bia/249414

I heard about this new airline in Colombia. I understood that the owner of Avior Airlines or the airline itself is behind this new airline. I wish them well and good luck.

A388

clo1973 wrote:

By the way, hopefully this thread for Colombia aviation news will remain....good initiative!

A388 wrote:

Definitely a good initiative I agree!!! Why did these Colombian threads stop? The Colombian aviation market/sector is one of the healthiest and one of the biggest in South America as far as I know. I hope this thread remains too.
A388

Totally agree. I hope we can keep this thread going. I'll certainly contribute as Colombia is a country of great personal interest.

Continuing with Colombian aviation news... Avianca's first A321 NEO is ready.


https://www.airliners.net/photo/Avianca/ ... /4561261/L

720B wrote:

As per link below (in Spanish), Emirates Cargo is requesting frequencies to Colombia (and other countries) and Air Canada is requesting approval to fly twice per week to Cartagena; with either Airbus 319/20/21 type aircraft or Boeing 767. We all know Rouge recently announced return flights Toronto - Cartagena (once per week), so the fact this is being discussed at this meeting is just a formality.

http://www.aerocivil.gov.co/eventos/_la ... on=default

very intersting the EK Cargo request, well tyipcall Cargo milk run to south america... I am sure they would do great!

regards
Avianca

Just another question, for how long will Colombian registered aircraft be banned from using Venezuelan air space? Flights from Spain to Colombia I still see them bypassing Venezuelan air space now.

A388

A388 wrote:

Just another question, for how long will Colombian registered aircraft be banned from using Venezuelan air space? Flights from Spain to Colombia I still see them bypassing Venezuelan air space now.

A388

They are not banned. Avianca are welcome to use Venezuelan airspace tonight, should they wish to...which they don't, for safety reasons. When they withdrew overnight from Venezuela, citing safety problems at CCS (the airport), they also started to avoid Venezuelan airspace, which lead to their cancelling BGI. There was also an incident a couple of months ago where an AV 787 was intercepted by Venezuelan Air Force Sukhois, since it was mistaken for a military aircraft.

Okay thanks for the correction and clarification MalevTU134

A388

Not sure how relevant this is for Colombian Aviation, but the pope's plane (Alitalia Airbus A330) is over the atlantic now, and is suposed to land in Bogota after 4:30 PM local time.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AZA4000

MalevTU134 wrote:

A388 wrote:

Just another question, for how long will Colombian registered aircraft be banned from using Venezuelan air space? Flights from Spain to Colombia I still see them bypassing Venezuelan air space now.

A388

They are not banned. Avianca are welcome to use Venezuelan airspace tonight, should they wish to...which they don't, for safety reasons. When they withdrew overnight from Venezuela, citing safety problems at CCS (the airport), they also started to avoid Venezuelan airspace, which lead to their cancelling BGI. There was also an incident a couple of months ago where an AV 787 was intercepted by Venezuelan Air Force Sukhois, since it was mistaken for a military aircraft.

Regardless, when is Avianca planning to resume flights through Venezuelan airspace?

Adding to Colombian aviation news, Avianca is a adding a new service to Santa Cruz (Bolivia) from Bogota. Route to operate daily from Oct 2017, using A320 type aircraft

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... -oct-2017/

After reducing its operation from CLO & MDE to LIM from daily to 3x & 4x respectively last April, AV is resuming its daily operation from both cities
since Sep. 1st.

As per Avianca CEO Hernan Rincon, next European destination could be Frankfurt or Munich; although Paris and Rome are also being considered


https://centreforaviation.com/news/avia ... ge--713283

Has anyone heard about what Avianca's next US routes from BOG might be? I imagine they are looking at Chicago, San Francisco, Tampa and Las Vegas. I know that TPA is going to meet with Avianca twice this month about BOG-TPA.

As of the last annual report, AV mentioned the following North American cities as potential destinations (to be served from either the Salvador or Bogotá hub): Atlanta, Denver, Guadalajara, Las Vegas, Monterrey, Montreal, Port of Spain, Saint Martin, and Vancouver. Boston was also on the list, but since the publication, AV started a non-stop from the BOG hub.

TPA, because of its proximity to MCO, has to offer a generous incentive for AV to fly there much like Barbados did.

pipeafcr wrote:

As of the last annual report, AV mentioned the following North American cities as potential destinations (to be served from either the Salvador or Bogotá hub): Atlanta, Denver, Guadalajara, Las Vegas, Monterrey, Montreal, Port of Spain, Saint Martin, and Vancouver. Boston was also on the list, but since the publication, AV started a non-stop from the BOG hub.

TPA, because of its proximity to MCO, has to offer a generous incentive for AV to fly there much like Barbados did.

I agree that TPA will have to incentivize AV to fly BOG-TPA. TPA gave Copa incentives to fly PTY-TPA and the route has been a success.

More Colombian aviation news

Bogota El Dorado International Airport pax up 3%, cargo stable in Jul-2017

https://centreforaviation.com/news/colo ... fic-713233

Avianca is expanding Sao Paulo flights, as per the article 3rd daily flight. The route must be doing well

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... ht=avianca

KLM is adding an extra frequency to Colombia


http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... ght=bogota

More colombian aviation news: As per Airline routes:


Air France schedules Dreamliner service to Bogota in S18
Posted 11 October 2017 07:30

Air France in summer 2018 season is adjusting operational aircraft for Paris CDG – Bogota route, as the airline schedules Boeing 787-9 service from 25MAR18. The Dreamliner will replace existing Airbus A340-300 operation. Coinciding with the aircraft change, operational schedule for Bogota will see evening departure from Paris instead of early-afternoon, while Bogota departs overnight, instead of evening hours.

AF428 CDG1810 – 2150BOG 789 D
AF429 BOG2355 – 1735+1CDG 789 D

It seems launch of new AV routes from CLO ( 3x BGA, 7x ADZ, 4x SMR) in August was successful, as per loads on those flights for that month:

CLO-BGA : 87%
CLO-SMR : 93%
CLO-ADZ : 93%

Wish BGA/SMR go daily at some point in 2018.

I suppose this thread is the best place to ask a few questions about what's going on in Colombia.

1) Is Viva Colombia shrinking? I've noticed that they have suspended service to CLO, CUC, LET, and UIO. I'm under the impression that the LCC concept hasn't caught on in Colombia. On youtube there are numerous videos of irate passengers shouting at and confronting VC's staff.

2) Has the old El Dorado terminal finally been razed and all of the rubble cleared? Or are there any remnants of that terminal?

3) What are BOG's future expansion plans? Will it go from being "Y" shaped to "H" shaped?

planeguy wrote:

I suppose this thread is the best place to ask a few questions about what's going on in Colombia.

1) Is Viva Colombia shrinking? I've noticed that they have suspended service to CLO, CUC, LET, and UIO. I'm under the impression that the LCC concept hasn't caught on in Colombia. On youtube there are numerous videos of irate passengers shouting at and confronting VC's staff.

2) Has the old El Dorado terminal finally been razed and all of the rubble cleared? Or are there any remnants of that terminal?

The old El Dorado terminal is completely gone

3) What are BOG's future expansion plans? Will it go from being "Y" shaped to "H" shaped?

It will never look like an H. They are expanding the terminal (taking over Avianca's old hangars) so it looks like a Y

https://www.internationalairportreview. ... -columbia/

Last month AV's CEO referred they are looking to add 2 new destinations in Europe between Frankfurt, Munich, Paris and Rome.
Any updates?

LIPZ wrote:

Last month AV's CEO referred they are looking to add 2 new destinations in Europe between Frankfurt, Munich, Paris and Rome.
Any updates?

wow crossing my fingers for MUC - that would be great - and linking my two home towns!

Avianca wrote:

LIPZ wrote:

Last month AV's CEO referred they are looking to add 2 new destinations in Europe between Frankfurt, Munich, Paris and Rome.
Any updates?

wow crossing my fingers for MUC - that would be great - and linking my two home towns!

they probably need to find pilots....

planeguy wrote:

I suppose this thread is the best place to ask a few questions about what's going on in Colombia.

1) Is Viva Colombia shrinking? I've noticed that they have suspended service to CLO, CUC, LET, and UIO. I'm under the impression that the LCC concept hasn't caught on in Colombia. On youtube there are numerous videos of irate passengers shouting at and confronting VC's staff.

Viva's fleet has not shrunk, but there was a temporary loss of capacity as they transferred 2 A320 to the Peruvian Viva, but 3 new ex-TK A320s have been added to the route.
It has indeed chopped a few destinations, but it has strengthened frequencies on the core routes. It has also allowed for better operational resilience.

You are right in that some people in a colombia may have been reticent about the low cost model- but that is changing. Viva has made more changes to its network than would seem advisable, but it has achieved million of passenger tripsz Copa's low cost Wingo seems to be doing well.

What is certainly helping Viva is Avianca's current Problems. As much as half of the fleet has been out of action for a month and it looks like continuing as a pilots union strike that came with steep demands and the airline's reaction to it are making for a nasty situation that is negatively affecting passenger numbers in Colombia and undoubtedly having repercussions in the wider economy.

Passengers who might have been hesitant about using Viva before, suddenly see it as a more reliable option.

detailed information on El Dorado expansion plans

https://eldorado.aero/en/about/expansion-works/

The video in the link below shows in detailed how the expansion will be accomplished

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ArfN24NuQ

So after phase IV it will look like and H (I had said before it would not, sorry). See the video at exactly 6:01 to see a rendering of how the terminal building will look when completed

I would love to see Avianca back in FRA!! Fond memories of their B747 flagship HK-2000 flying their lovely red colors on the milk run through MAD and CDG into the blue dominated hub of LH and PA in the 1980s. If they could agree a profit share with Star partner LH on the BOG run FRA's home carrier could use their own metal currently deployed on this route to open something like FRA-LIM-SCL. Possibly AV could also tap into the significant perishable cargo market (fresh flowers and fruits) that seems to exist between Colombia and Germany (centralized in FRA).

pipeafcr wrote:

As of the last annual report, AV mentioned the following North American cities as potential destinations (to be served from either the Salvador or Bogotá hub): Atlanta, Denver, Guadalajara, Las Vegas, Monterrey, Montreal, Port of Spain, Saint Martin, and Vancouver. Boston was also on the list, but since the publication, AV started a non-stop from the BOG hub.

TPA, because of its proximity to MCO, has to offer a generous incentive for AV to fly there much like Barbados did.

Well, i just hope that before they start a service to SXM or POS that they resume the BGI flight!!!

Avianca has confirmed the intention of starting four new routes in 2018. 3 of them heavily influenced by the new JV with United.

*BOG-MUC
*BOG-ORD
*BOG-EWR
*BOG-IAH

On top of this announcement Hernan Rincon, CEO of Avianca had recently talked about starting flights to ASU and FCO/MXP or CDG in 2018.

http://www.portafolio.co/negocios/empresas/esta-lista-la-alianza-entre-avianca-y-united-airlines-512375

I also suspect BOG-SFO is being considered by either AV or UA. After the start of ORD, it would become the US city with the largest demand that does not have a direct link with BOG.

Additionally, this month flights from BOG to REC (1x) and VVU (7x) will begin. Thus becoming the 35th and 36th international destinations served by the Avianca Group (Including O6) from their Bogota Hub.