Avianca CEO Frederico Pedreira said the Colombian carrier is close to adding a new destination in the southeast U.S.
Atlanta is the largest U.S. market Avianca does not serve, and the carrier already operates to Florida cities Miami and Orlando in the U.S. southeast from its Bogota El Dorado Airport (BOG) hub. “I hope that I can make an announcement next week,” Pedreira said Dec. 11 in Bogota at Avianca’s year-end press conference. The new destination would become Avianca’s 14th network point in the U.S.
“We have short-term plans to announce additional flights to the U.S.,” he said, adding the new U.S. airport is “going to be in the southeast.”
Avianca’s most recent U.S. route launch was BOG-Chicago O’Hare (ORD), which kicked off in October. The service is being flown daily with an Airbus A320 aircraft configured to carry 180 passengers.
The BOG-ORD route “is performing better than expected,” Pedreira said. “Right now, we don’t have any plans to increase flight frequency to Chicago.”
Pedreira said the U.S. market has improved as 2024 has progressed. «At the beginning of the year it started weaker, but from halfway through the year to now, we’ve seen it growing stronger,” he explained.
According to CAPA – Centre for Aviation data, 22.2% of Avianca’s international seats are operated to the U.S., more than any other country. El Salvador is second at 19.4%, followed by Costa Rica at 6.9%.
Among the countries Avianca serves, the U.S. in 2024 “had one of the best performances,” Pedreira said…
