Air China’s first flight from Beijing via Madrid arrived at Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo on April 28th at 04:56 local time. Operations will be carried out twice a week with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft seating 293 passengers.

Brazil and China recovered their connection after a four-year suspension due to the COVID pandemic. Until early 2020, the airline offered this same schedule.

It is the third Asian carrier to operate to Sao Paulo, following Emirates and Qatar, which provide services from Dubai and Doha, respectively.

After the assumption of the new president in December 2023, the new aviation policy in Argentina is taking its initial steps, and with it the updating of bilateral agreements with several South American countries.

Recently, Argentina signed new agreements with Brazil and Ecuador with the aim, as they comment, of increasing flights, allowing free frequencies for each country’s airlines.

With Chile, an agreement with three important points has been signed:

• Free number of frequencies (for Argentine and Chilean carriers).

• Argentine companies can operate domestic flights in Chile (e.g. Buenos Aires – Santiago – Concepción – Santiago – Buenos Aires).

• Chilean companies can operate domestic flights in Argentina (e.g. Santiago – Buenos Aires – Córdoba – Buenos Aires – Santiago).

Operations must end in the country where they began. This new agreement aims to increase the current connectivity between both countries, which we will review later in the report.

For the first time, Argentine airlines will be able to operate domestic services in Chile, and Chilean airlines within Argentina.

We review other highlights of the Latin American market in April/May.

• Aerolíneas Argentinas will add a new connection from Sao Paulo.

• Aeromexico to inaugurate operations between Querétaro and Atlanta.

• Air Caraïbes will have non-stop flights to Sint Maarten.

• avianca and its four new routes.

• avianca Cargo incorporates its first Airbus A330-300(F).

• Azul Conecta will have flights to Jacarepaguá from Belo Horizonte and Campinas.

• Copa Airlines reaches 30 Boeing 737 MAX 9.

• Delta adds frequencies between Atlanta and Cartagena.

• Flybondi will open a new route in the Argentine Patagonia.

• Frontier and its new connections from San Juan.

• JetSMART continues its expansion in Colombia.

• LATAM will start non-stop services between Santiago and Sydney.

• Levu Air Cargo’s first aircraft.

• SKYhigh Dominicana to fly to San Salvador.

• VivaAerobus will operate between Torreón and San Antonio.

Aerolíneas Argentinas

As of July 1st, the company will launch services between Sao Paulo and Bariloche. Being seasonal, Aerolíneas Argentinas will operate this route until mid-September.

Daily

• AR 1259  Sao Paulo GRU 09:55 · 14:40 BRC Bariloche
• AR 1258  Bariloche BRC 14:30 · 18:40 GRU Sao Paulo

Aerolíneas Argentinas routes and flights between Sao Paulo and Argentina, during the South American winter (July to September):

Non-stop

• Bariloche (BRC): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
• Buenos Aires (AEP): 35 weekly · 737/738/7M8
• Córdoba (COR): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Mendoza (MDZ): 2 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8
• Salta (SLA): 1 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

With a stopover

• San Martín de los Andes (CPC) via AEP: 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Ushuaia (USH) via AEP: 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800

Aeromexico

Querétaro – Atlanta, Aeromexico’s new route.

Services will return on August 5th after a five-year hiatus. The Mexican airline will have one daily frequency on Embraer 190 aircraft with capacity for 99 passengers.

Daily

• AM 2710  Querétaro QRO 10:22 · 16:00 ATL Atlanta
• AM 2711  Atlanta ATL 15:40 · 17:00 QRO Querétaro

Atlanta will be Aeromexico’s second U.S. connection from Querétaro. For its part, the company will reach five regular routes in the U.S. city.

Air Caraïbes

The French carrier will begin non-stop operations between Paris Orly and Sint Maarten starting in December. According to its website, Air Caraïbes will offer two flights per week on this route with 303-seat Airbus A330-200 planes.

These services will be performed during the 2024/25 winter season.

Monday and Friday

• TX 520  Paris ORY 11:45 · 15:45 SXM Sint Maarten
• TX 521  Sint Maarten SXM 18:45 · 07:55+1 ORY Paris

Air Caraïbes’ routes in Latin America

Dominican Republic/Bahamas

• ORY – Santo Domingo (SDQ) – San Salvador (ZSA) – ORY: 1 weekly · Airbus A330-300

Dominican Republic

• Paris (ORY) – Santo Domingo (SDQ) via PUJ: 1 weekly · Airbus A330-300
• Paris (ORY) – Santo Domingo (SDQ): 5 weekly · Airbus A350-900

French Guiana

• Paris (ORY) – Cayenne (CAY): 4 weekly · Airbus A350-900

Guadeloupe

• Paris (ORY) – Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP): 9 weekly · Airbus A350-1000

Martinique

• Fort-de-France (FDF): 9 weekly · Airbus A350-1000

Mexico

• Paris (ORY) – Cancún (CUN): 3 weekly · A333/A359

In addition, the airline operates flights to/from Pointe-a-Pitre with the ATR 72-600.

• Fort-de-France (FDF): 54 weekly
• Sint Maarten (SFG): 41 weekly

Air China

We review Air China’s schedule on the Beijing – Madrid – Sao Paulo route, the only company operating in the China – Brazil market.

Thursday and Sunday

• CA 897  Beijing PEK 15:00 · 21:10 MAD Madrid
• CA 897  Madrid MAD 23:15 · 05:05+1 GRU Sao Paulo

Monday and Friday

• CA 898  Sao Paulo GRU 09:15 · 00:40+1 MAD Madrid
• CA 898  Madrid MAD 02:40 · 19:30 PEK Beijing (Tue/Sat)

Argentina-Chile flights

These are the current flights between Argentina and Chile, separated by airline.

Aerolíneas Argentinas

• Buenos Aires (AEP) – Santiago (SCL): 15 weekly · 738/7M8
• Mendoza (MDZ) – Santiago (SCL): 2 weekly · Embraer 190

JetSMART Argentina

• Buenos Aires (AEP) – Santiago (SCL): 3 weekly · Airbus A320-200
• Buenos Aires (EZE) – Concepción (CCP): 3 weekly · Airbus A320-200
• Buenos Aires (EZE) – Santiago (SCL): 3 weekly · Airbus A320-200

JetSMART Chile

• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (AEP): 10 weekly · A320/A320neo
• Santiago (SCL) – Mendoza (MDZ): 4 weekly · A320/A320neo

KLM

• Buenos Aires (EZE) – Santiago (SCL): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

LATAM

• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (AEP): 21 weekly · Airbus A320-200
• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (EZE): 15 weekly · A320/A321
• Santiago (SCL) – Córdoba (COR): 6 weekly · A320/A321
• Santiago (SCL) – Mendoza (MDZ): 7 weekly · A320/A321

Additionally, LATAM operates once a month the route Santiago – Punta Arenas – Río Gallegos – Falklands Islands (Malvinas) – Punta Arenas – Santiago, and Santiago – Punta Arenas – Falklands Islands (Malvinas) – Río Gallegos – Punta Arenas – Santiago, also on a monthly basis.

SKY

• Santiago (SCL) – Bariloche (BRC): 4 weekly · Airbus A320neo (seasonal)
• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (AEP): 9 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (EZE): 11 weekly · A320neo/A321neo
• Santiago (SCL) – Mendoza (MDZ): 7 weekly · Airbus A320neo

avianca

On June 17th, the company will resume flights between the capitals of El Salvador and Perú, following a two-year suspension.

Operations will be three times per week with 180-seat Airbus A320-200 aircraft, according to its website.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• AV 429  San Salvador SAL 22:15 · 03:25+1 LIM Lima

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• AV 428  Lima LIM 01:35 · 05:00 SAL San Salvador

Bogotá, Boston, Cancún, Dallas, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Houston, Los Angeles, Managua, Mexico City, Miami, New York, Ontario, Panama City, Quito, San Francisco, San José, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, Toronto and Washington are the current avianca destinations in San Salvador. The only regular route from/to the Peruvian capital is Bogotá El Dorado airport.

In addition, the carrier will add three new international connections to/from Medellin during June. One of them will be Lima, and the other two Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile.

• Lima (LIM): 3 weekly · June 1st
• Santiago (SCL): 4 weekly · June 2nd
• Buenos Aires (EZE): 7 weekly · June 15th

avianca Cargo

A new Airbus A330 configured for cargo operations was delivered to the airline last April 23rd.

The aircraft, currently registered N337QT, arrived at Medellín’s Jose Maria Córdova airport from Haikou via Anchorage with a white livery. Its previous operator was SmartLynx Malta, under registration 9H-SMI.

This is avianca Cargo’s first Airbus A330-300(P2F), and also the first plane of this type in South America.

The Airbus A330-343(P2F) will enter service shortly.

Avianca Cargo fleet

Airbus A330-200

• N330QT
• N331QT
• N332QT
• N334QT
• N335QT
• N336QT

Airbus A330-300

• N337QT

After its withdrawal from SmartLynx Malta, the aircraft was converted to a freighter.

Azul Conecta

Azul Linhas Aéreas’ express subsidiary, Azul Conecta, will add two new connections from/to Jacarepaguá airport, in Rio de Janeiro.

This airport is located 20 kilometers from Galeão and Santos Dumont, the main airports of the Brazilian city.

Azul Conecta currently offers 45 flights per week between Sao Paulo Congonhas and Jacarepaguá.

• Campinas (VCP): 14 weekly · Cessna 208 (June 8th)
• Belo Horizonte (CNF): 28 weekly · Cessna 208 (July 8th)

Azul Conecta has 25 Cessna 208s in its fleet.

Copa Airlines

The airline incorporated its 30th Boeing 737 MAX 9 during April.

This airplane, registered HP-9931CMP, arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, new from Seattle Boeing Field (BFI/KBFI).

Copa maintains its position as the leading operator of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 in the region. Aeromexico is the other Latin American airline to have MAX 9s in its fleet (19).

In the short term, Copa Airlines plans to add two more new 737 MAX 9s (HP-9930CMP and HP-9932CMP).

Delta Air Lines

Effective December 19th, Delta Air Lines will increase its service between Atlanta and Cartagena, a route inaugurated in December 2023 as a result of the Joint Venture with LATAM Airlines.

Currently, the company operates three weekly, which will expand to seven during the high season.

Daily

• DL 984  Atlanta ATL 09:54 · 12:53 CTG Cartagena
• DL 985  Cartagena CTG 14:13 · 19:20 ATL Atlanta

The current schedule is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

With respect to Bogotá, its other destination in Colombia, Delta has 14 and 7 flights per week from Atlanta and New York, respectively.

Flybondi

The Argentine low cost carrier will inaugurate its operations between two cities in the extreme south of the country. 

In line with its website, Flybondi will commence flights on the El Calafate – Ushuaia route on August 2nd, and will be offered four times a week on 189-seat Boeing 737-800s.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• FO 5545  El Calafate FTE 10:10 · 11:30 USH Ushuaia
• FO 5544  Ushuaia USH 10:35 · 11:55 FTE El Calafate

Flybondi will compete with Aerolíneas Argentinas on this route, which operates five weekly, and will boost to seven in July.

Frontier

Between June and July, the company will open two new connections in the Caribbean.

Flights will be operated to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico, in both cases.

Santiago de los Caballeros (STI) · June 14th

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• F9 269  San Juan SJU 15:11 · 16:27 STI Santiago
• F9 268  Santiago STI 17:46 · 18:59 SJU San Juan

Bridgetown (BGI) · July 3rd

Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

• F9 270  San Juan SJU 11:40 · 13:20 BGI Bridgetown
• F9 271  Bridgetown BGI 14:30 · 16:15 SJU San Juan

GOL

The Brazilian airline plans to start flights between Brasilia and Bogotá by the end of this year. At the moment there is no confirmed date, but this new route was confirmed during an event with the presidents of both countries.

Bogotá will become GOL’s third international destination from Brasilia after Miami and Orlando. The carrier operated to Buenos Aires in the South American summer (January and February), but no new operations are expected in the near future.

Days after GOL Linhas Aéreas’ announcement, avianca reported that it will operate between Bogotá and Brasilia, and also, for the moment, there are no official dates and schedules.

JetSMART

San Andrés Island will be added to JetSMART’s regular schedule, becoming the eighth city with operations in Colombia.

The low cost will begin flying from Medellín using Airbus A320neo aircraft as of June 27th, with five weekly frequencies.

Check JetSMART’s website, as it will have different schedules each day.

JetSMART Colombia routes:

Bogotá

• Cartagena (CTG)
• Medellín (MDE)
• Pereira (PEI)
• Santa Marta (SMR)

Cali

• Santa Marta (SMR): June 13th

Cartagena

• Cali (CLO)
• Cúcuta (CUC): June 11th
• Pereira (PEI)

Medellín

• Cali (CLO): June 13th
• San Andrés Island (ADZ): June 27th
• Santa Marta (SMR)

Pereira

• Santa Marta (SMR): June 17th

LASER

On April 12th, the Venezuelan airline inaugurated its flights to La Romana from Caracas. LASER will offer a daily frequency between both cities, although the second service was on April 21st, and the third on April 23rd. Since then, it has operated every day, and plans to maintain this schedule.

The services will be carried out using RED Air’s McDonnell Douglas MD-82 with registration HI1069.

Daily

• QL 763  La Romana LRM 18:45 · 20:15 CCS Caracas
• QL 762  Caracas CCS 07:45 · 09:15 LRM La Romana

Only one of these flights, based on our database, was performed with a LASER aircraft (April 21st – YV2923).

LATAM

After four and a half years, effective October 27th, LATAM Airlines will restart its non-stop services between Santiago de Chile and Sydney. Currently, the carrier operates one daily frequency on the Santiago – Auckland – Sydney route with the 313-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

According to its website, LATAM will have four weekly non-stop flights to Sydney, and operations with a stopover in Auckland will continue, but will be reduced from 7 to 6 per week.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

• LA 809  Santiago SCL 01:40 · 06:30+1 SYD Sydney

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• LA 810  Sydney SYD 12:10 · 11:00 SCL Santiago

Routes between Chile and Oceania

LATAM

• Santiago (SCL) – Auckland (AKL) – Sydney (SYD): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9
• Santiago (SCL) – Melbourne (MEL): 3 weekly · Boeing 787-9

Qantas

• Santiago (SCL) – Sydney (SYD): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9

Chile is the only Latin American country to have regular operations to Oceania.

Levu Air Cargo

The first aircraft of Levu Air Cargo, a new Brazilian cargo airline, was recently spotted in Malta Luqa airport.

At the moment, the Airbus A321-211(PCF), which still keeps the livery of its former operator SmartLynx Cargo, will arrive in Brazil shortly, to start with the procedures prior to the commencement of operations.

Campinas will be Levu Air Cargo’s hub, with Recife and Manaus as first destinations. Later, looking for an international expansion, the carrier plans to fly to Bogotá and Miami, in addition to incorporating its first Airbus A330(F).

This will be the first A321(F) in Brazil. Azul Cargo schedules to add these planes starting in 2025.

SKYhigh Dominicana

San Salvador will join SKYhigh Dominicana’s regular network as of May 10th.

These flights will be conducted from Santo Domingo, the airline’s base, twice weekly.

Monday

• DO 750  Santo Domingo SDQ 14:00 · 15:00 SAL San Salvador
• DO 751  San Salvador SAL 16:00 · 21:00 SDQ Santo Domingo

Friday

• DO 750  Santo Domingo SDQ 09:30 · 10:30 SAL San Salvador
• DO 751  San Salvador SAL 11:30 · 16:30 SDQ Santo Domingo

SKYhigh Dominicana will compete with Arajet, which has 4 services a week on this route.

Sunrise Airways

Beginning May 25th, in accordance to its website, the Haitian company plans to launch three new routes from Antigua, which will be operated by 30-seat Embraer 120 Brasilia jets.

• Basseterre (SKB): 12 weekly
• Castries (SLU): 6 weekly
• Dominica (DOM): 12 weekly

VivaAerobus

Torreón will have a second connection to the United States.

Between June 1st and mid-August, VivaAerobus will offer seasonal flights to San Antonio with Airbus A320 aircraft configured for 186 passengers.

Tuesday and Saturday

• VB 243  San Antonio SAT 12:05 · 12:35 TRC Torreón
• VB 244  Torreón TRC 13:35 · 16:10 SAT San Antonio

VivaAerobus routes from/to San Antonio

• Guanajuato (BJX): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Mexico City (MEX): 7 weekly · Airbus A320
• Monterrey (MTY): 14 weekly · A320/A321
• Querétaro (QRO): 2 weekly · Airbus A320

VivaAerobus routes to/from Torreón

• Cancún (CUN): 2 weekly · Airbus A320
• Mexico City (MEX): 7 weekly · Airbus A321
• San José del Cabo (SJD): 2 weekly · Airbus A321

American Airlines operates seven weekly between Dallas and Torreón with Embraer 175 planes.

Winair

The company began operating the Sint Maarten – Fort-de-France – Dominica route last April 1st. Flights will be performed using ATR 42-500s.

Wednesday/Sunday

• WM 865  Sint Maarten SXM 16:30/16:45 · 17:45/18:00 FDF Fort-de-France
• WM 865  Fort-de-France FDF 18:15/18:30 · 19:00/19:15 DOM Dominica

Monday/Thursday

• WM 864  Dominica DOM 07:00 · 07:45 FDF Fort-de-France
• WM 864  Fort-de-France FDF 08:15 · 09:30 SXM Sint Maarten

Winair has a fleet of two ATR 42-500s.

Four new airplanes were incorporated into different Latin American airlines during April and early May, in addition to Copa’s Boeing 737 MAX 9.

As in the United States, the acquisition of new Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo aircraft predominate in Latin America.

• Aeromexico

• Azul Linhas Aéreas

• Copa Airlines

• JetSMART (x2)

• SKY Airline

*It is not new from the factory. The 787-9 is 3 years old.

Other reports we have published:

• United States and Canada
• Dubai deep dive: How Emirates runs its megahub
• China-Australia flights approaching pre-pandemic levels

Cover photo: Sean Brink – JetPhotos (Sint Maarten – Princess Juliana International Airport).