Viva Aerobus is launching a new route to Bogota during the fourth quarter of the year, becoming the third service to Colombia’s capital since it began flying to the country less than 12 months ago.

The ULCC intends to open a connection linking Guadalajara (GDL) in western Mexico with Bogota’s El Dorado International (BOG) from Oct. 22, operating twice a week using a mix of 186-seat Airbus A320s and 240-seat A321 aircraft.

The airline will become the sole carrier to serve the destinations nonstop once the route launches, as well as being Guadalajara’s only direct connection to Colombia.

Viva Aerobus entered the Colombian market in in last August, seeking to take a share of service from Mexico following the continued grounding of InterJet.

Before the pandemic, Avianca, InterJet and Aeromexico were the market leaders between Colombia and Mexico, collectively controlling 96% of the 1.7 million scheduled seats during 2019, OAG data shows.

However, with the suspension of InterJet’s operations, carriers have been jostling for position as a number of new operators have entered the fray, including Viva Aerobus.

The carrier’s inaugural route connected Mexico City Juarez (MEX) and Bogota, while a Cancun (CUN)-Bogota service started last December. Two more routes launched this April linking both CUN and MEX with Medellin (MDE) in Colombia.

According to the latest data from the Mexican Ministry of Tourism, the number of Colombian visitors to Mexico by air increased by 216% in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021. With 185,000 passengers, Colombia generated the third largest flow of visitors behind the US and Canada.

Meanwhile, a report published by Colombia’s government found that Mexico ranked third among the countries that generated a greater flow of nonresident foreign visitors to Colombia in 2021, behind the US and Venezuela.

OAG data shows that total capacity between Mexico and Colombia currently stands at 48,976 two-way weekly seats. This compares with 29,272 during the same week in 2019.

At present, Avianca is the market leader by capacity with a 37.2% share of the seats available. Viva is second on 20%, Viva Aerobus third on 18.2%, Aeromexico fourth on 13.9% and Volaris fifth on 10.6%.

Figures provided by Sabre Market Intelligence reveal that O&D traffic between Guadalajara and Bogota totaled 18,888 two-way passengers in 2021, compared with 23,778 in 2019 before the pandemic. In the absence of nonstop air service, Mexico City (MEX) was the largest one-stop market last year, accounting for about 54% of the traffic.

GDL-BOG