As Avianca, the Colombian flagship airline, celebrates its 105th anniversary, it also closes 2024 with a historic record.
The airline has transported nearly 38 million passengers and opened 24 new routes. Compared to 2019, Avianca increased the number of travelers by 27 percent and 19 percent compared to 2023. It has 167 routes in more than 25 countries. It has opened eight new destinations, and 14 percent of passengers have flown for the first time on this brand.
North America is a key component of Avianca's business scheme. It connects to and from the United States on 249 frequencies on 36 routes weekly. As of November 2024, it carried more than 4 million passengers, 17 percent more than last year on 27,000 flights and 15 percent more than in 2023.
Avianca recently added the routes of Chicago and Montreal in Canada to its North American network. Chicago is a better route than expected, and we plan to announce additional flights for the United States, as is the case with Florida," said Frederico Pedreira, Avianca's CEO. These routes join new ones in Europe, such as Paris, Caracas, Aeroparque (Buenos Aires), Havana, and Quibd and Arauca in Colombia.
Frederico Pedreira, CEO of Avianca, announced new routes between Colombia and North America. (Photo courtesy of Avianca)
According to Pedreira, Avianca's business has grown significantly in the United States. "The beginning of the year started weak, but half a year later, it is stronger. It is a market that behaved?more strongly within the mix of all our markets. Mexico is also a market where we did very well this year."
Avianca's CEO is confident in the airline's profitability in North America, a market that is currently performing well. He attributes this success to the cost structure that allows Avianca to operate profitably on previously considered unviable routes. The CEO's confidence in Avianca's ability to attract and retain passengers is a testament to the airline's strength in the market.
As Gabriel Oliva, Chief Operating Officer of Avianca, explained, this increase in routes and passenger transport has required maintaining high service standards. "That effort to have an excellent and consistent operation is being translated into results. When we compare the metrics with 2019, today we expect to finish the year with about 83 percent on-time performance, which has to do with delays of, more or less, 15 minutes of arrivals, against a 78.6 in 2019. When we look at irregular baggage, the metric below two is an excellent standard globally, and we're 1.53 versus 4.52 from 2019. And when we see how long it takes, on average, to take a call in our call center, it is about a minute, compared to almost 17 minutes in 2019," he said.
Avianca launched Business Class Americas to offer passengers more extraordinary luxury and comfort. (Photo Credit: Valentn Fuentes)
Furthermore, Pedreira stressed that this year, Avianca launched Business Class Americas to offer greater comfort to its passengers. "Currently, we have it on 34 routes, and we will continue to evaluate to open more. The other one is for Europe, which is INSIGNIA, which offers an improved menu and amenity kit."
He announced that this service has a flatbed and gastronomy of the highest level by the chef ?lvaro Clavijo and Catalina Vlez; in addition to that, the amenity kits are designed by Mola Sasa in collaboration with the Gunadule community.
Commenting on Avianca's strategy to reduce the environmental impact of its operations, Felipe Gmez, the airline's Sustainability Director, said that "compared to 2019 with 2023, the reduction of emissions by passengers transported was, more or less, 22 percent. With the results we are having in 2024, that trend of emitting fewer greenhouse gases per passenger continues to decline."
"We estimate we will have about one percent less emissions per passenger this year as we transport more people," he said.
The modern El Dorado airport in Bogot links many Avianca routes. (Photo Credit: Valentn Fuentes)
One of the new features presented by Avianca is the benefits of the LifeMiles loyalty program. This program increases complimentary seats, promotes the executive cabin on Inter-American flights, and offers exclusive travelers the possibility of accessing the Club Concierge with additional benefits.
"We continue to consolidate ourselves as the most awarded program in Latin America. This year, we were the best airline loyalty program in Latin America, which makes us very proud, and we already have more than 14 million members, said Valeria Yglesias, Chief Commercial Officer of LifeMiles.
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