At 20:45 local time on May 11th, China Southern Airlines’ inaugural flight from Shenzhen arrived at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez Airport. The company will offer two services per week on this route with 335-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

The Mexican capital becomes China Southern’s first Latin American destination, and the fourth considering the American continent.

Emirates continues to expand its Latin American network with the launch of Bogotá.

The first flight landed at Bogotá’s El Dorado airport, from Dubai via Miami, on June 3rd at 14:27 local time.

In accordance with our database, Emirates will operate the Dubai – Miami – Bogotá route on Boeing 777-300(ER) jets with a capacity of 354 passengers, once a day.

Daily

• EK 213  Dubai DXB 02:15 · 10:05 MIA Miami
• EK 213  Miami MIA 12:05 · 14:56 BOG Bogotá

• EK 214  Bogotá BOG 17:19 · 22:15 MIA Miami
• EK 214  Miami MIA 00:45 · 23:00 DXB Dubai

Munich, Lufthansa’s second destination in Sao Paulo.

As of December 9th, the carrier will resume its regular operations between Munich and Sao Paulo, which have been suspended for more than four years.

Lufthansa will have 10 weekly flights between Germany and Sao Paulo (FRA-GRU 7 and MUC-GRU 3), and 15 a week on the Germany-Brazil market, including the 5 weekly to Rio de Janeiro from Frankfurt.

Currently, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, San José (Costa Rica) and Sao Paulo are airline’s connections in Latin America.

These are other highlights of the Latin American market:

• Arajet increases its services to South America.

• avianca and its new routes.

• Boliviana de Aviación adds flights between Bolivia and Spain.

• Copa Airlines boosts frequencies to two South American capitals.

• GOL to operate between Sao Paulo and Aruba.

• JetSMART inaugurated flights in the Argentina-Uruguay market.

• LASER, the fifth company to operate between Caracas and Madrid.

• LATAM adds flights to the United States from Brazil, Chile and the Dominican Republic.

• Mexicana de Aviación and its order for 20 Embraer E-2s.

• New aircraft for Brazilian cargo airlines.

• Porto Alegre airport closed due to flooding.

• SKY Airline expands its services between Lima and Punta Cana.

• Volaris El Salvador adds a new connection to Costa Rica.

• WestJet will have new routes from/to Latin America.

Arajet

The company increased flights on some of its routes to South America in early June:

• Buenos Aires (EZE): from 4 to 7 weekly · June 2nd
• Cartagena (CTG): from 5 to 6 weekly · June 3rd
• Sao Paulo (GRU): from 4 to 7 weekly · June 3rd

Arajet has ten Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft based at Santo Domingo airport in the Dominican capital.

avianca

Between late May and early June, avianca inaugurated four new routes, to be performed with Airbus A319 and Airbus A320 planes.

• Medellín (MDE) – Lima (LIM): 3 weekly
• San Salvador (SAL) – Montreal (YUL): 3 weekly
• Medellín (MDE) – Oranjestad (AUA): 4 weekly
• Medellín (MDE) – Santiago (SCL): 4 weekly

In addition, on June 15th it will begin operations between Medellín and Buenos Aires.

Boliviana de Aviación

Last May 29th, the Bolivian state-owned airline boosted its flight frequency between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Madrid, which will be available during the South American winter season (European summer).

Boliviana de Aviación will offer four weekly services on this route with 285-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft. On the Madrid – Santa Cruz leg, there is a stopover in Cochabamba, once a week.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra – Madrid

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• OB 776  Santa Cruz VVI 20:15 · 12:55+1 MAD Madrid

Tuesday (new flight)

• OB 772  Santa Cruz VVI 18:50 · 11:30+1 MAD Madrid

Madrid – Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Friday and Sunday

• OB 777  Madrid MAD 22:00 · 03:00+1 VVI Santa Cruz

Wednesday (new flight)

• OB 773  Madrid MAD 14:30 · 19:30 VVI Santa Cruz

Madrid – Cochabamba

Tuesday

• OB 779  Madrid MAD 22:00 · 03:00+1 CBB Cochabamba

Asunción, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Havana, Lima, Madrid, Miami and Sao Paulo are BoA’s international destinations. Havana will be suspended on July 25th.

Braspress Air Cargo // Total

Two Brazilian cargo airlines added planes to their respective fleets in early June, both of them Boeing 737-400(F) aircraft.

In the case of Braspress, this is its second 737, which has the registration PS-BPA. The carrier has not yet started scheduled operations, and expects to launch service shortly.

As can be seen in our database, both 737s (PS-BPB and PS-BPA) are currently in São José dos Campos (SJK).

With respect to Total Linhas Aéreas, on June 1st, the Boeing 737-4Q8(SF) registered PS-TLB arrived in Belo Horizonte from Europe. This is the company’s third jet and the second 737 freighter, in addition to the PS-TLA.

Total plans to add two more Boeing 737-400(F) in the near future, which will have the registrations PS-TLE and PS-TLF.

China Southern Airlines

We review the company’s schedule between Shenzhen and Mexico City:  

Tuesday and Saturday

• CZ 8031  Shenzhen SZX 21:00 · 23:00 MEX Mexico City

Wednesday and Sunday

• CZ 8032  Mexico City MEX 01:00 · 04:00 TIJ Tijuana (technical stop)
• CZ 8032  Tijuana TIJ 05:30 · 12:20+1 SZX Shenzhen

Mexico adds its first connection to China, and the second route to Asia.

Currently, All Nippon Airways and Aeromexico operate one daily frequency each between the two capitals on Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Aeromexico will also begin flights between Monterrey and Tokyo as of July 15th, making it the only airline to operate in the Monterrey-Asia market.

Copa Airlines

The carrier announced the increase of its services to two South American capitals between September and November.

Operations to Buenos Aires will boost from 28 to 31 weekly, and to Brasilia from 7 to 10 per week.

Buenos Aires (5th new frequency · eff September 18th)

Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• CM 167  Panama City PTY 15:23 · 00:33+1 EZE Buenos Aires

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• CM 168  Buenos Aires EZE 02:36 · 08:02 PTY Panama City

Brasilia (2nd new frequency · eff November 1st)

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

• CM 895  Panama City PTY 21:29 · 05:50+1 BSB Brasilia

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

• CM 896  Brasilia BSB 10:10 · 14:14 PTY Panama City

Emirates

This is the Emirates network in South America, which is composed as follows:

Argentina

• Buenos Aires (EZE) via GIG: 4 weekly · Boeing 777-200(LR)

Brazil

• Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 4 weekly · Boeing 777-200(LR)
• Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Airbus A380-800

Colombia

• Bogotá (BOG) via MIA: 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)

Emirates offers seven weekly flights between Dubai and Mexico City via Barcelona with Boeing 777-200(LR) aircraft.

GOL

Effective December 18th, GOL Linhas Aéreas will inaugurate services between Sao Paulo Guarulhos and Oranjestad. Flights will take place three times a week on Boeing 737 MAX 8s with capacity for 186 passengers.

Sao Paulo will be GOL’s first destination in Aruba.

Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

• G3 7716  Sao Paulo GRU 15:30 · 21:00 AUA Oranjestad
• G3 7715  Oranjestad AUA 22:30 · 05:50+1 GRU Sao Paulo

GOL routes in the Caribbean and the United States

Dominican Republic

• Sao Paulo (GRU) – Punta Cana (PUJ): 2 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

United States

• Brasilia (BSB) – Miami (MIA): 5 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
• Brasilia (BSB) – Orlando (MCO): 4 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
• Fortaleza (FOR) – Miami (MIA): 1 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

Iberojet

Tegucigalpa, new destination on Iberojet’s schedule.

The Spanish carrier will commence operations to Honduras from Barcelona and Madrid with 432-seat Airbus A350-900 jets as of October 30th.

Tuesday

• E9 805  Madrid MAD 14:00 · 17:55 XPL Tegucigalpa
• E9 804  Tegucigalpa XPL 19:55 · 13:25+1 BCN Barcelona

Wednesday

• E9 803  Barcelona BCN 16:25 · 21:40 XPL Tegucigalpa
• E9 806  Tegucigalpa XPL 23:40 · 16:25+1 MAD Madrid

Friday/Saturday

• E9 805  Madrid MAD 14:00 · 17:55 XPL Tegucigalpa
• E9 806  Tegucigalpa XPL 23:40 · 16:25+1 MAD Madrid

Furthermore, Iberojet increased its flights between Madrid and San José, Costa Rica on June 6th, from two to three weekly.

JetSMART

Beginning May 29th, the low cost airline inaugurated flights between the capitals of Argentina and Uruguay.

JetSMART will offer 12 services per week on Airbus A320-200 aircraft configured for 186 passengers in single class.

Daily except Friday

• JA 3860  Buenos Aires AEP 06:00 · 06:51 MVD Montevideo
• JA 3861  Montevideo MVD 07:38 · 08:40 AEP Buenos Aires

Daily except Sunday

• JA 3862  Buenos Aires AEP 20:55 · 21:46 MVD Montevideo
• JA 3863  Montevideo MVD 23:08 · 00:10+1 AEP Buenos Aires

JetSMART’s international routes in Buenos Aires and Montevideo

Buenos Aires (AEP/EZE)

• Asunción (ASU): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• Florianópolis (FLN): 3 weekly · Airbus A320
• Lima (LIM): 7 weekly · Airbus A320
• Montevideo (MVD): 12 weekly · Airbus A320
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 5 weekly · Airbus A320
• Santiago (SCL): 10 weekly · A320/A20N

Montevideo

• Buenos Aires (AEP): 12 weekly · Airbus A320
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG): 4 weekly · A320/A20N/A21N
• Santiago (SCL): 4 weekly · A320/A20N/A21N

After two and a half years, the Argentina-Uruguay market once again has two regular operators.

LASER

The Venezuelan airline started its intercontinental operations on June 3rd.

At the time of publication, LASER Airlines will offer three weekly between Caracas and Madrid with an Airbus A330-200 leased from Hi Fly, expanding to four from July onwards.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• QL 2920  Caracas CCS 18:30 · 09:15+1 MAD Madrid

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

• QL 2921  Madrid MAD 11:15 · 14:50 CCS Caracas

LASER becomes the fifth company with flights between the capitals of both countries, following Air Europa, Estelar, Iberia and Plus Ultra.

LATAM

In Q4 2024, the carrier will increase its services between Latin America and the United States.

Los Angeles, Miami and Orlando will have new additions, which will be as follows:

November

• Sao Paulo (GRU) – Los Angeles (LAX): from 3 to 4 weekly
• Sao Paulo (GRU) – Orlando (MCO): from 5 to 7 weekly

December

• Punta Cana (PUJ) – Miami (MIA): from 1 to 2 weekly

LATAM will restart flights between Santiago de Chile and Orlando in December, which at publication time, will be available until early March 2025.

Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Orlando are the airline’s U.S. destinations.

Mexicana de Aviación

After resuming operations in December 2023, the Mexican state-owned airline has announced the order of 20 new Embraer E-2s, including 10 E190 E-2s and another 10 E195 E-2s. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025.

In nearly 6 months of service, Mexicana de Aviacion carried more than 115,000 passengers between its 18 regular destinations to/from Mexico City’s Felipe Angeles Airport.

Mexicana’s fleet currently consists of 3 Boeing 737-800s and 2 Embraer 145s.

Neos

Cartagena and Punta Cana, new Neos destinations in Latin America.

Flights will be from/to Milan Malpensa with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft effective December 22nd, once weekly.

Sunday

• NO 790  Milan MXP 08:30 · 13:00 PUJ Punta Cana
• NO 790  Punta Cana PUJ 15:00 · 16:30 CTG Cartagena
• NO 790  Cartagena CTG 18:00 · 09:40+1 MXP Milan

Neos Italia operates to Bahamas, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Mexico and the United States, in the Americas.

Paranair

As of July 1st, the Paraguayan company will add services between Asunción and Córdoba, a route it started in early March.

Paranair will boost from three to four flights a week, according to its website. The airline operates on CRJ-200s configured for 50 passengers in single class.

Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• ZP 839  Asunción ASU 06:30 · 09:20 COR Córdoba
• ZP 838  Córdoba COR 10:05 · 10:45 ASU Asunción

Monday (new flight)

• ZP 839  Asunción ASU 11:30 · 14:20 COR Córdoba
• ZP 838  Córdoba COR 15:05 · 15:45 ASU Asunción

Paranair routes

Argentina

• Buenos Aires (AEP): 14 weekly
• Córdoba (COR): 3 weekly (currently)

Bolivia

• Santa Cruz de la Sierra (VVI): 7 weekly

Paraguay

• Ciudad del Este (AGT): 6 weekly

Uruguay

• Montevideo (MVD): 14 weekly

Paranair has three CRJ-200s in its fleet (ZP-CRR, ZP-CRS and ZP-CRT).

Porto Alegre

Due to the floods suffered in Porto Alegre during May, the Brazilian city’s airport is closed with no estimated date for reopening.

Recently, the water began to drain from the airport, and runway 11/29 is already visible from the air, with several damages that will need to be repaired once the water is completely gone.

The city was without commercial flights until May 27th, when Canoas Military Air Base, in northern Porto Alegre, was conditioned for the start of passenger flights.

At the moment, Azul, GOL and LATAM will operate to/from the military base for the next few months, with the following schedule:

Azul

• Campinas (VCP): 14 weekly · E195/E295

GOL

• Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU): 9 weekly · 738/7M8

LATAM

• Sao Paulo Congonhas (CGH): 5 weekly · Airbus A320
• Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU): 7 weekly · A320/A321

Aerolíneas Argentinas, Azul, Copa, GOL, LATAM and TAP operated in Porto Alegre airport. JetSMART planned to begin service from Buenos Aires on July 11th, but was suspended as a result of the floods.

SKY Airline Perú

The low cost carrier will expand its flights between Lima and Punta Cana as of December 1st. SKY Perú will increase from 7 to 11 weekly services, all operated with 186-seat Airbus A320neo aircraft.

Cancún and Punta Cana are SKY’s Caribbean destinations.

Daily

• H2 5580  Lima LIM 10:00 · 16:20 PUJ Punta Cana
• H2 5581  Punta Cana PUJ 17:50 · 22:00 LIM Lima

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• H2 5582  Lima LIM 00:50 · 07:10 PUJ Punta Cana
• H2 5583  Punta Cana PUJ 08:20 · 12:30 LIM Lima

SKY Airline’s international routes to/from Lima

• Buenos Aires (EZE): 4 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Cancún (CUN): 7 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Miami (MIA): 7 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Montevideo (MVD): 3 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Punta Cana (PUJ): 7 weekly · Airbus A320neo (currently)
• Santiago (SCL): 21 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Sao Paulo (GRU): 7 weekly · Airbus A320neo

Volaris

Volaris El Salvador is scheduled to inaugurate operations between San Salvador and San José, Costa Rica effective July 1st.

In accordance to its website, the company plans two flights per week on this route using Airbus A320 airplanes seating 186 passengers.

Tuesday and Friday

• N3 4340  San Salvador SAL 07:00 · 08:16 SJO San José
• N3 4341  San José SJO 09:01 · 10:18 SAL San Salvador

Avianca currently offers 28 weekly services on this route on Airbus A320s.

WestJet

For Canada’s winter season, the airline will launch several routes between Canada and Latin America starting in November.

WestJet will operate with Boeing 737-700 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft:

Calgary

• Tulum (TQO): 1 weekly · November 9th

Kelowna

• Mazatlán (MZT): 1 weekly · December 13th

Toronto

• Maurice (Grenada) GND: 1 weekly · November 3rd
• Tulum (TQO): 3 weekly · November 9th

Winnipeg

• San José del Cabo (SJD): 1 weekly · November 9th

Considering the two 737-400(F)s owned by Brazilian airlines, more than 10 aircraft were added by Latin American companies during May and early June:

• Aerolíneas Argentinas (x2)

• Arajet

• Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras

• Copa Airlines (x2)

• JetSMART

• LATAM Airlines (x3)

The 2 Boeing 737 MAX 8s incorporated by Aerolíneas Argentinas are not new from the factory, having been grounded for approximately 5 years.

These aircraft, as well as one more to be added to the Argentine company, had been acquired by Ukraine International Airlines, but were not taken up (NTU) during the pandemic, remaining idle at Victorville.

This is not the first time Aerolíneas Argentinas has incorporated Boeing 737 MAX 8 that were not taken by another carrier.

In mid-2022, the airline received 2 737 MAX ex Belavia, currently operating under the registrations LV-KEI and LV-KEJ.

To read other reports we have published:

• Europe
• Asia and Oceania
• Africa and Middle East
• United States and Canada
• Lufthansa sending the A380 to Washington
• Aurora Borealis and Saudi Arabia’s commercial center: BA announces two new routes

Cover photo: Mauri_0307 – JetPhotos (Mexico City).