LATAM Colombia requested to operate flights in Neiva

The Colombian subsidiary of LATAM Group formally filed before the Colombian aeronautical regulators to have flights between Bogota (BOG) and Neiva (NVA).

According to the resolution filed with the Air Transport Office of the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics, the company «AEROVIAS DE INTEGRACION REGIONAL S A / AIRES S. A.», commonly called LATAM Airlines Colombia, requested a permit to perform scheduled passenger and cargo services between Bogota (BOG) and Neiva (NVA), in the Department of Huila.

The request is to be able to operate up to seven flights per week with Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

If approved, it would be the fourth Colombian city to be added to LATAM’s network this year, after landing in Pasto (February 2021), Armenia (June 2021) and soon to Riohacha (October 2021).

LATAM has shown a strong commitment in Colombia, where it has inaugurated several internal links without passing through Bogota; such as: Medellin (MDE) to Bucaramanga (BGA), Cucuta (CUC) and Monteria (MTR) and from Cali (CLO) to Barranquilla (BAQ), Medellin (MDE) and Santa Marta (SMR). It has also inaugurated a direct service between Bogota and Miami (MIA) and as of November will connect the Colombian capital with Guayaquil (GYE).

This will make it the Group’s most recovered market. The operational projection for September, according to seat-kilometers, led to a 114% recovery at national level and 41% in the international market, obtaining an average of 80%.

Neiva, more competition

The city is currently served by Avianca flights to Bogotá (BOG) and Easyfly to Bogotá (BOG), Cali (CLO), Medellín (EOH) and Puerto Asís (PUU).

Avianca operates up to two daily flights on ATR 72-600s, which will be changed to A319s and A320s starting in November, mainly because the company will deprogram the turboprops in its fleet.

On the other hand, Easyfly operates 20 weekly flights to Bogota, three weekly flights to Medellin, and two weekly flights to Cali and Puerto Asis; all routes in ATR 72-600.

Flights to Bogota will mobilize 255,578 passengers in 2019, a growth of 22.68%; it is the fifteenth most important route for the Colombian capital, according to Aerocivil.