Air France will boost its services between Paris and Sint Maarten starting December 20th, increasing from 7 to 14 flights per week. Operations, according to its website, will be performed with Airbus A330-200 aircraft configured for 224 passengers.

As per our database, Sint Maarten is one of Air France’s four current Caribbean destinations, some offered to/from Paris Charles de Gaulle and others from/to Paris Orly (not including services by Airbus A320 within the Americas). 

Daily · new flight

• AF 446  Paris CDG 09:35 · 14:00 SXM Sint Maarten
• AF 447  Sint Maarten SXM 19:45 · 09:10+1 CDG Paris

Daily

• AF 498  Paris CDG 10:30 · 15:00 SXM Sint Maarten
• AF 499  Sint Maarten SXM 17:10 · 06:40+1 CDG Paris

At publication time, Air France is the only company operating between Europe and Sint Maarten.

Air France routes to Latin America

Paris Charles de Gaulle

• Bogotá (BOG): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Buenos Aires (EZE): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Cayenne (CAY): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Fortaleza (FOR): 3 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Fort-de-France (FDF): 4 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
• Havana (HAV): 3 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
• Lima (LIM): 7 weekly · 772/77W
• Mexico City (MEX): 14 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Panama City (PTY): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP): 3 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
• San José (SJO): 5 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• Santiago (SCL): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Sao Paulo (GRU): 14 weekly · 772/77W
• Sint Maarten (SXM): 4 weekly · Airbus A330-200 (currently)*

Paris Orly

• Fort-de-France (FDF): 3 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
• Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP): 4 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)

Routes within the Americas

• Cayenne (CAY) – Belem (BEL): 1 weekly · Airbus A320-200
• Cayenne (CAY) – Fort-de-France (FDF): 6 weekly · Airbus A320-200
• Fort-de-France (FDF) – Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP): 6 weekly · Airbus A320-200
• Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP) – Miami (MIA): 2 weekly · Airbus A320-200

*From late October, it will expand to a daily frequency.

Aeropuertos Uruguay signed an alliance with Flightradar24

In September, Aeropuertos Uruguay, concessionaire of eight Uruguayan airports, signed an alliance with Flightradar24, with the aim of achieving full coverage of air traffic in Uruguay.

As a result of the alliance, six new antennas will be installed at airports in the country that do not have full air coverage. Carmelo, Durazno, Melo, Paysandú, Rivera and Salto will be the airports in Uruguayan cities with these new antennas.

Currently, Montevideo, Punta del Este and Salto have regular passenger flights in Uruguay. Days after the announcement, Paranair, a Paraguayan airline, confirmed the launch of services between Montevideo and Salto, marking the return of domestic operations in the country after 11 years.

Paranair to fly to Salto (Uruguay)

Salto airport, recently inaugurated following works carried out by Aeropuertos Uruguay, recovered its flights following an-eleven year hiatus. Paranair will operate twice weekly the route Asunción – Montevideo – Salto and vice versa using 50-seat CRJ-200 jets.

The first flight was on October 8th.

Tuesday

• ZP 844  Asunción ASU 06:15 · 08:05 MVD Montevideo
• ZP 844  Montevideo MVD 08:50 · 09:55 STY Salto

• ZP 845  Salto STY 10:40 · 11:45 MVD Montevideo
• ZP 845  Montevideo MVD 12:30 · 14:20 ASU Asunción

Thursday

• ZP 841  Asunción ASU 16:30 · 18:20 MVD Montevideo
• ZP 841  Montevideo MVD 19:00 · 20:05 STY Salto

• ZP 846  Salto STY 20:45 · 21:50 MVD Montevideo
• ZP 846  Montevideo MVD 22:35 · 00:25+1 ASU Asunción

Paranair has 14 flights a week between the capitals of Paraguay and Uruguay.

We review other Latin American market highlights during September and October

Aerolíneas Argentinas

At 20:38 local time on September 13th, Aerolíneas Argentinas’ inaugural flight from Córdoba landed in Punta Cana. The company will provide two weekly operations with 170-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

Córdoba restored its connectivity with the Caribbean after four and a half years.

Saturday and Sunday

• AR 1326  Córdoba COR 14:30 · 21:20 PUJ Punta Cana
• AR 1327  Punta Cana PUJ 23:15 · 08:10+1 COR Córdoba

In January 2025, during the South American summer, Aerolíneas Argentinas will commence services to Punta Cana from Rosario and Tucumán, other Argentine cities.

Aeromexico

The airline will increase its capacity on the Mexico City – Medellín route effective October 26th, beginning flights by Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft with 177 seats. Aeromexico currently operates with Boeing 737 MAX 8s between the two cities, which are configured for 166 passengers.

Daily

• AM 798  Mexico City MEX 18:55 · 00:28+1 MDE Medellín
• AM 799  Medellín MDE 02:00 · 05:31 MEX Mexico City

Bogotá and Medellín are its current destinations in Colombia. As announced, Aeromexico will fly to Cartagena from February 2025.

Aerus

On September 12th, Aerus inaugurated services between Monterrey and Brownsville. The Mexican company will offer a daily frequency using Cessna Grand Caravans, seating 9 passengers.

Daily

• ZV 20  Monterrey MTY 17:45 · 20:05 BRO Brownsville
• ZV 21  Brownsville BRO 20:45 · 21:00 MTY Monterrey

Air Tahiti Nui

Charter flight to Easter Island (Rapa Nui).

Air Tahiti Nui will operate from/to Papeete in January 2025 by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft for 294 passengers.

Schedule

• TN 711  Papeete PPT 00:35 · 11:00 IPC Easter Island (January 20th, 2025)
• TN 712  Easter Island IPC 09:00 · 10:00 PPT Papeete (January 23rd, 2025)

LATAM is the only airline to provide regular flights to Easter Island, with 9 frequencies per week from Santiago de Chile.

American

American Airlines will resume seasonal services between Miami and Montevideo as of November 22nd. At the time of publication, the carrier will perform three weekly flights to Uruguay through March 29th, 2025, with 234-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner planes.

From December 18th to February 13th, 2025, American will have one daily frequency on this route.

Wednesday, Friday, Sunday

• AA 989  Miami MIA 22:35 · 09:30+1 MVD Montevideo (Friday)
• AA 989  Miami MIA 23:00 · 09:55+1 MVD Montevideo (Wednesday/Sunday)

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• AA 984  Montevideo MVD 23:25 · 06:50+1 MIA Miami

Prior to the pandemic, American operated year-round to Montevideo.

avianca

The airline will add new international routes between October and December. In some cases, avianca will have service to these airports for the first time.

Bogotá

• Buenos Aires (AEP): 3 weekly · December 9th · Airbus A320
• Tulum (TQO): 3 weekly · December 10th · Airbus A320

Medellín

• San Salvador (SAL): 7 weekly · October 27th · Airbus A320
• Sao Paulo (GRU): 3 weekly · December 1st · Airbus A320

Quito

• Punta Cana (PUJ): 2 weekly · October 27th · Airbus A320

Currently, avianca has operations to Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, from Bogotá, Medellín, Quito and San José. The company has never flown to Aeroparque (AEP), not including Avianca Argentina.

Tulum inaugurated its new airport in December 2023, and avianca will be the first South American airline to operate there.

Avianca already serves Medellín, Punta Cana, Quito, San Salvador and Sao Paulo.

Azul Linhas Aéreas

For 2024/25 summer season, effective mid-December, Azul Linhas Aéreas will launch two new routes between Brazil and Uruguay.

Montevideo

• Curitiba (CWB): 2 weekly · Embraer E-2
• Recife (REC): 1 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Florianopolis (FLN): 3 weekly · Embraer E-2 (effective December 16th)

Punta del Este

• Sao Paulo (GRU): 2 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Campinas (VCP): 2 weekly · Embraer E-2 (effective December 18th)

Bahamasair

Beginning November 17th, Bahamasair will commence operations to Montego Bay from Nassau. At publication time, the carrier will fly this route twice a week with 138/148-seat Boeing 737-700 planes.

Thursday and Sunday

• UP 147  Nassau NAS 08:00 · 09:15 MBJ Montego Bay
• UP 148  Montego Bay MBJ 10:30 · 11:45 NAS Nassau

According to our database, Bahamasair has flights from NAS to Cap-Haitien, Crooked Island, Deadman’s Cay, Fort Lauderdale, Freeport, George Town, Governor’s Harbour, Havana, Marsh Harbour, Mayaguana, Miami, North Eleuthera, Orlando, Providenciales, Rock Sound, San Salvador (ZSA) and Spring Point.

British Airways

More flights to Cancún in 2025.

As of March 30th, 2025, the company will expand its services from London Gatwick for 2025 season, reaching daily. British operates this route on Boeing 777-200(ER) aircraft.

Daily

• BA 2203  London LGW 13:25/13:45 · 17:55/18:15 CUN Cancún
• BA 2202  Cancún CUN 19:40/20:00 · 11:05/11:25+1 LGW London

British Airways and TUI are the airlines offering flights in the UK – Cancún market.

Ethiopian

For the first time in its history, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed at Tucumán airport in Argentina.

At 22:04 local time on September 21st, Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, registration ET-ASI, arrived in Tucumán from Addis Ababa via Sao Paulo Guarulhos on a ferry flight.

Three hours later, as can be seen through our database, the airplane departed TUC to Nelspruit, South Africa.

This special Ethiopian flight between Tucumán and Nelspruit was due to the Rugby Championship match between Argentina and South Africa, which was held in Santiago del Estero that same day, a city located 160 kilometers away from Tucumán.

Ethiopian had made, as well as other cargo airlines, some several cargo services to Tucumán, for the transport of blueberries to United States or the MotoGP.

Flair

Flair Airlines’ inaugural flight from Toronto landed in Guadalajara on September 13th at 15:46 local time. The Canadian carrier will provide two weekly services with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, increasing to three flights per week in mid-October.

Monday and Friday

• F8 2660  Toronto YYZ 13:10 · 16:30 GDL Guadalajara
• F8 2661  Guadalajara GDL 17:15 · 23:55 YYZ Toronto

New service on Wednesdays.

In addition to Toronto, Flair has two operations a week between Vancouver and Guadalajara on the same planes.

GOL

The Brazilian company will fly to Aeroparque in Buenos Aires from Natal for the first time.

Operations will begin on January 4th, 2025, with a weekly frequency. In accordance with its website, GOL Linhas Aéreas has scheduled flights until March 2025.

Saturday

• G3 7466  Natal NAT 14:05 · 19:20 AEP Buenos Aires
• G3 7465  Buenos Aires AEP 20:55 · 02:15+1 NAT Natal

GOL already serves between Natal and Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE).

From Buenos Aires Aeroparque, the company operates to Florianopolis, Recife, Salvador and Sao Paulo.

Iberia

During the South American summer, Iberia will boost its flights to Rio de Janeiro, increasing from four to five services per week. The Spanish airline flies 288-seat Airbus A330-200 jets.

Daily except Friday and Sunday · eff January 15th, 2025

• IB 269  Madrid MAD 12:00 · 18:50 GIG Rio de Janeiro
• IB 270  Rio de Janeiro GIG 20:15 · 10:25+1 MAD Madrid

Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Havana, Lima, Mexico City, Montevideo, Panama City, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, San José (Costa Rica), San Juan (Puerto Rico), San Salvador, Santo Domingo, Sao Paulo and Santiago de Chile are Iberia’s destinations in Latin America.

JetSMART

The Argentine low cost carrier added a new plane to its fleet on October 2nd.

This Airbus A320-232, registration CC-AWE, arrived in Buenos Aires at 23:42 local time from Santiago de Chile on a ferry flight. It is the ninth A320 in the Argentine fleet.

For the first time, JetSMART Argentina will operate with a foreign-registered aircraft. A recent deregulation by the Argentine government has made this possible, allowing flights within the country by aircraft with foreign registrations.

Until then, JetSMART Argentina’s 8 Airbus A320-200s had been registered in Argentina (LV).

JetSMART Argentina’s fleet

• LV-HEK
• LV-HVT
• LV-IVN
• LV-IVO
• LV-JQE
• LV-KDP
• LV-KFX
• LV-KJA
• CC-AWE

The A320 CC-AWE, between October 2022 and December 2023, had operated for JetSMART Argentina under the registry LV-KGO.

LATAM

Effective November 1st, LATAM Airlines will once again operate services with Wamos Air’s Airbus A330-200s via wet-lease. These jets, at the time of publication, will cover the airline’s routes to/from the Chilean capital.

• Santiago (SCL) – Bogotá (BOG)
• Santiago (SCL) – Lima (LIM)
• Santiago (SCL) – Los Angeles (LAX)

Wamos Air had performed flights for LATAM until the end of 2018.

In addition, LATAM Brazil will add two new domestic routes in Brazil, which will be operated from/to Sao Paulo Guarulhos.

• Macapá (MCP): 4 weekly · October 27th · Airbus A320
• Fernando de Noronha (FEN): 3 weekly · December 15th · Airbus A319

Neos

Prague – Punta Cana, Neos’ new route.

On October 28th, the company’s charter flights to the Dominican city will commence, which will be operated from the Czech capital. The services will have a weekly frequency using 355/359-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Monday

• NO 160  Prague PRG 13:20 · 18:05 PUJ Punta Cana
• NO 161  Punta Cana PUJ 20:05 · 10:00+1 PRG Prague

Neos currently operates to La Romana, in the Dominican Republic, being the only destination in the country.

Red Air

Red Air, an airline based in the Dominican capital, started services to Willemstad (Curaçao) from Santo Domingo, a route it will offer with McDonnell Douglas MD-82s.

According to our database, the carrier will fly three times a week between the two cities, providing 447 weekly seats with this schedule.

Monday, Wednesday and Sunday · first flight Sep 9th

• L5 300  Willemstad CUR 11:00 · 12:00 SDQ Santo Domingo
• L5 301  Santo Domingo SDQ 13:00 · 14:00 CUR Willemstad

Red Air has 3 MD-82s in its fleet.

Rutaca

The Venezuelan company plans to inaugurate flights between Porlamar and Puerto España (Port of Spain), Trinidad and Tobago, effective October 21st. As per its website, Rutaca will perform three services per week on Boeing 737-300 jets.

Monday, Thursday and Sunday

• 5R 1210  Porlamar PMV 12:00 · 12:40 POS Port of Spain
• 5R 1211  Port of Spain POS 14:00 · 14:40 PMV Porlamar

SATENA

Servicio Aéreo a Territorios Nacionales (SATENA), a Colombian government airline, announced the addition of a new ATR 42-600 to its fleet.

The aircraft, registration HK-5442-X, as can be seen through our database, arrived in Bogotá from Toulouse via Glasgow, Reykjavik, Narsarsuaq, Goose Bay, Halifax, Bermuda and La Romana on October 2nd, after a three-day ferry flight.

SATENA now has 11 ATRs (9 ATR 42 and 2 ATR 72) in its fleet, in addition to Beechcraft and Embraer jets.

Fleet

• ATR 42: 9
• ATR 72: 2
• Beechcraft 1900D: 2
• Embraer 145: 3

Sunrise Airways

Between October and December, Sunrise will launch several routes in the Caribbean, to be operated with Embraer 120s, Embraer 145s and Embraer 190s.

From Saint John (Antigua)

• Castries (SLU) – Saint George (GND): 3 weekly · October 27th
• Castries (SLU) – Kingstown (SVD): 2 weekly · October 28th
• Dominica (DOM) – Castries (SLU) – Kingstown (SVD): 2 weekly · October 31st
• Beef Island (EIS) – Santo Domingo (SDQ): 3 weekly · November 11th
• Dominica (DOM) – Castries (SLU) – Bridgetown (BGI): 3 weekly · December 2nd
• Castries (SLU) – Fort-de-France (FDF) – Bridgetown (BGI): 3 weekly · December 3rd
• ANU – Basseterre (SKB) – St. Maarten (SXM) – ANU: 7 weekly · December 1st
• ANU – Dominica (DOM) – Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP) – ANU: 4 weekly · December 1st
• ANU – Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP) – Dominica (DOM) – ANU: 4 weekly · December 1st

Additionally, it will operate a weekly frequency between Port-au-Prince and Willemstad as of December 7th.

United

The airline continues to expand its services in the Caribbean, with the new route to Dominica.

Flights will begin on February 15th, 2025 from Newark, which will operate by 126-passenger Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

Saturday

• UA 2849  Newark EWR 09:10 · 14:39 DOM Dominica
• UA 2850  Dominica DOM 15:45 · 19:51 EWR Newark

Winair

More flights in the Caribbean.

The carrier commenced services to Sint Eustatius and Saba in September, operating with Twin Otter aircraft. In addition, from mid-November, Winair will increase from 7 to 10 flights a week between Sint Maarten and Willemstad (Curaçao), performed on ATR 42-300s.

• SXM – Saint Eustatius (EUX) – Saba (SAB) – SXM: 4 weekly · September 9th
• Willemstad (CUR): increase from 7 to 10 weekly · November 16th

New aircraft added by Latin American airlines during September

• Aeromexico

• VivaAerobus

In this case, only airlines from Mexico

After 2 months in Latacunga, Ecuador, the Boeing 737-8LD, registry N202TS, is ready to join Flysafair (ZS-ZWG).

The aircraft recently underwent C-check and painting at the DIAF maintenance facility (Dirección de Industria Aeronáutica de la Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana by its Spanish name), located at Latacunga airport since 1992.

This maintenance facility provides work mainly to the Ecuadorian Air Force, and since the beginning of this year it has been working for the lessor Aircraft Engine Lease Finance (AELF). The lessor has already sent two 737s to Latacunga (N202TS and N205TS), in both cases following its withdrawal from British Airways (Comair), which ceased operations in mid-2022.

As can be seen in our database, the Boeing 737-8LD arrived in Latacunga on August 8th from Johannesburg, with stopovers in Windhoek and Recife. On October 7th, the plane made a post-maintenance test flight (Latacunga – Guayaquil – Latacunga), and will soon make its delivery flight to South Africa.

The following photo is from August 8th, shortly after arriving in Latacunga.

Other reports we have published

• Europe
• Asia and Oceania
• Africa and Middle East
• United States and Canada

Cover photo: Sean Brink – JetPhotos (Sint Maarten – Princess Juliana Int’l – TNCM).