Last year, Chilean low-cost carrier Sky Airline announced plans to set up a subsidiary in neighboring Peru. After a few months of work, the carrier has been granted 34 routes by the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC), according to a Flight Global report.
Based in the country’s capital city of Lima, the airline has been granted flights to destinations including Arequipa, Cuzco, Piura, Chiclayo, Trujillo, Pucallpa and Puerto Maldonado. Although the airline has not made any comments on any route announcements, it has dropped hints on social media that Cuzco, Arequipa and Piura will be the first destinations from its base in Lima.
All three are high demand destinations, with Cuzco being a tourism hotspot region and the latter two important domestic regional economies that have strong business demand from the capital. The airline expects to fly to up to eight domestic destinations by the end of their first year of operations and is keen on beginning international operations in the near future.
In order to solicit routes from Peruvian authorities, Sky had to obtain its operator certificate from the Peruvian General Aviation Authority (DGAC). This process had one of the holding’s A320neos, registered as CC-AZC, flying to destinations across the country completing its certification process. Peruvian law allows airlines to operate using foreign registered aircraft, so the aircraft will be able to continue flying for the Chilean mainline in the meantime until the Peruvian subsidiary is closer to beginning commercial flights sometime around April and May.
Sky Peru will launch operations using two A320neos fully optimized to seat 186 passengers. The Chilean holding company has an order for 21 of the next generation aircraft, which will help capitalize its expansion plans as a leading low-cost carrier in the region.
The airline is keen on becoming the second largest domestic operator by 2022 by using fuel-efficient aircraft and having a simple cost structure that allows them to offer cheap fares to flyers. Sky predicts that it can lower ticket prices by up to 40 percent and offer tickets to domestic destinations with prices as low as $18 each way, aided by the economics provided by optimized last generation aircraft…
