After almost five years, Royal Air Maroc is back in South America.

The Moroccan airline resumed services between Casablanca and Sao Paulo Guarulhos (Brazil) on December 7th. At 22:13 local time, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registration CN-RGX, landed in the Brazilian city following a flight of 9 hours and 9 minutes.

Royal Air Maroc will offer, in line with our database, three weekly flights on this route with 787s, providing 909 seats a week on each leg.

Sao Paulo becomes Royal Air Maroc’s first destination in South America, and the sixth on the continent including North America. Miami, Montreal, New York JFK, Toronto and Washington DC are its other routes.

Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

• AT 215  Casablanca CMN 16:35 · 22:35 GRU Sao Paulo

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

• AT 214  Sao Paulo GRU 00:25 · 13:20 CMN Casablanca

In March 2020, as a result of the pandemic, Royal Air Maroc was forced to stop flying to Sao Paulo Guarulhos. In addition to GRU, the airline also operated to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which suspension continues.

American Airlines resumes operations to Uruguay

At 10:08 local time on November 23rd, the first American Airlines flight from Miami arrived in Montevideo. The company will perform services between the United States and Uruguay through 2024/25 South American summer.

American will have three flights per week until the end of March 2025, and will offer one daily frequency from December 18th to February 12th, 2025 for peak season.

Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• AA 989  Miami MIA 23:00 · 09:55+1 MVD Montevideo

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• AA 984  Montevideo MVD 23:25 · 06:30+1 MIA Miami

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú and Uruguay, American Airlines’ South American markets.

Azul starts services between Brazil and Paraguay

On December 2nd at 11:20 local time, Azul Linhas Aéreas’ first service landed at Silvio Pettirossi airport in the Paraguayan capital. The Brazilian airline will provide four routes between Brazil and Asunción, two of which will be regular year-round, while the remaining two will operate during summer 2024/25.

Campinas, Curitiba, Florianópolis and Recife will have Azul flights from Asunción, the latter two being seasonal routes.

As per its website, the airline will perform all four services with 136-seat, single-class Embraer E-2 aircraft.

Campinas · December 2nd

Monday and Friday

• AD 8782  Campinas VCP 09:00 · 11:00 ASU Asunción
• AD 8783  Asunción ASU 12:15 · 14:15 VCP Campinas

Curitiba · December 3rd

Tuesday and Saturday

• AD 8714  Curitiba CWB 11:40 · 13:25 ASU Asunción
• AD 8715  Asunción ASU 14:40 · 16:20 CWB Curitiba

Recife · December 15th

Sunday

• AD 8734  Recife REC 09:30 · 13:55 ASU Asunción
• AD 8735  Asunción ASU 15:10 · 19:30 REC Recife

Florianópolis · December 18th

Wednesday and Sunday

• AD 8762  Florianópolis FLN 12:00 · 13:55 ASU Asunción
• AD 8763  Asunción ASU 15:10 · 16:55 FLN Florianópolis

Avion Express arrives in South America

The Lithuanian airline is operating in Argentina for Flybondi, a low cost carrier of the South American country.

Flybondi wet-leased three Airbus A320-200s from Avion Express, with Lithuanian registrations. These aircraft will operate with Avion Express crew, as well as AlbaStar’s Boeing 737-800s with AlbaStar crew, which were also leased by the Argentine airline last November.

In order to increase its fleet, especially for summer, Flybondi has decided to lease aircraft from foreign airlines, now possible after a modification of the Argentine Aeronautical Code. The Argentine government is modifying several aspects of Argentine aviation, including open skies agreements with other countries, with the aim of increasing international and domestic connectivity.

Avion Express’ Airbus A320s will operate for Flybondi until March 2025.

Flybondi’s fleet

Boeing 737-800: 17

• LV-HKN
• LV-KAH
• LV-KAY
• LV-KCD
• LV-KCE
• LV-KDQ
• LV-KDR
• LV-KEF
• LV-KEG
• LV-KEH
• LV-KGN
• LV-KHO
• LV-KJD
• LV-KJE
• LV-KJF
• EC-MUB (AlbaStar)
• EC-NLK (AlbaStar)

Airbus A320-200: 3

• LY-MLJ (Avion Express)
• LY-VEL (Avion Express)
• LY-MLG (Avion Express)

Flybondi is expected to incorporate 2 more A320s from Avion Express soon.

We review other highlights of the Latin American market

Aerolíneas Argentinas

As of January 8th, 2025, Aerolíneas Argentinas will boost its flights between Buenos Aires and Salvador de Bahía for summer. The airline will increase from 7 to 10 weekly services to the Brazilian city from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport, in the Argentine capital.

Daily

• AR 1220  Buenos Aires AEP 19:10 · 23:30 SSA Salvador
• AR 1221  Salvador SSA 00:40 · 05:30 AEP Buenos Aires

New flight · eff January 8th, 2025

Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• AR 1232  Buenos Aires AEP 07:40 · 12:00 SSA Salvador
• AR 1233  Salvador SSA 12:50 · 17:40 AEP Buenos Aires

In addition to Buenos Aires, Aerolíneas Argentinas will inaugurate operations between Córdoba and Salvador in January 2025, which will be offered during summer 2025.

Aerus

More services within Mexico.

Aerus commenced in November two routes from Minatitlán, which it will provide with Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, each six times a week.

Veracruz

Daily except Saturday

• ZV 201  Veracruz VER 09:10 · 10:10 MTT Minatitlán
• ZV 200  Minatitlán MTT 16:45 · 17:45 VER Veracruz

Villahermosa

Daily except Saturday

• ZV 221  Minatitlán MTT 12:50 · 13:50 VSA Villahermosa
• ZV 220  Villahermosa VSA 15:20 · 16:20 MTT Minatitlán

Air Canada

After nearly three years of suspension, Air Canada will resume flights to Trinidad and Tobago. Services, departing from Toronto, will begin on May 1st, 2025.

Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

• AC 984  Toronto YYZ 20:00 · 01:35+1 POS Port of Spain
• AC 985  Port of Spain POS 02:35 · 08:35 YYZ Toronto (Mon/Tue/Fri/Sat)

Air Canada will operate with Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.

avianca

The airline returns to Cuba.

Avianca will restart its services to Havana effective December 16th, with a new route from Bogotá. According to its website, the company will fly seven times weekly using Airbus A320neo planes.

Daily

• AV 054  Bogotá BOG 12:35 · 16:00 HAV Havana
• AV 055  Havana HAV 17:10 · 20:25 BOG Bogotá

Avianca will join Boliviana de Aviación, Conviasa and LATAM, other South American airlines operating to Havana and Cuba.

Azul Cargo

The Brazilian airline incorporated two Airbus A321-200(P2F), the first of this type in Brazil and also in South America. Both aircraft arrived from Jinan (China), where both were converted to freighters.

On October 17th, the first A321, with registration PS-AJA, landed in Belo Horizonte, while the second aircraft, registered PS-AJB, arrived two weeks later. The two A321(P2F) are currently parked in Campinas, and are scheduled to start operations in Q1 2025.

Azul Cargo becomes the second Brazilian airline to have Airbus A321(F). It joins Levu Air Cargo, which added its first Airbus A321-212PCF (PS-LVU) in May.

Cape Air

New routes in the Caribbean.

The U.S. airline will add new services from St. Kitts and St. Thomas, which will be operated with Cessna aircraft.

In accordance with its website, these will be the three new routes:

St. Kitts (Basseterre) – Nevis · December 7th

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday

• 9K 1616  Nevis NEV 08:30 · 08:40 SKB Basseterre
• 9K 1616  Basseterre SKB 18:34 · 18:44 NEV Nevis

St. Kitts (Basseterre) – St. Thomas · December 7th

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday

• 9K 1741  Basseterre SKB 09:40 · 10:45 STT St. Thomas
• 9K 1741  St. Thomas STT 16:44 · 17:49 SKB Basseterre

St. Thomas – Vieques · December 20th

Daily

• 9K 3731  Vieques VQS 10:15 · 10:38 STT St. Thomas
• 9K 3731  St. Thomas STT 14:35 · 14:58 VQS Vieques

Caribbean Airlines

Beginning December 17th, Caribbean Airlines will resume service between Kingston, Jamaica, and Fort Lauderdale. The company will operate three times per week on 188-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• BW 035  Kingston KIN 18:10 · 20:15 FLL Fort Lauderdale
• BW 036  Fort Lauderdale FLL 22:00 · 23:55 KIN Kingston

Fort Lauderdale (from POS and NAS), Miami, New York JFK and Orlando are Caribbean Airlines’ destinations in the United States.

Delta Air Lines

The airline launched wide-body flights between Atlanta and San Juan (Puerto Rico) as of December 10th, starting with selected days, moving to a daily frequency from January 2025.

Daily (Jan 2025)

• DL 1882  Atlanta ATL 09:49 · 14:20 SJU San Juan
• DL 1882  San Juan SJU 15:30 · 18:39 ATL Atlanta

GOL

Effective February 4th, 2025, GOL Linhas Aéreas will inaugurate operations between the capitals of Brazil and Colombia. The carrier will have three weekly flights with 186-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, becoming the only operator on this route.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• G3 8242  Brasilia BSB 08:55 · 12:20 BOG Bogotá
• G3 8243  Bogotá BOG 23:33 · 06:30+1 BSB Brasilia

In addition, GOL will cease services to Bogotá from Sao Paulo in December, and will also discontinue operations from BOG to Buenos Aires beginning February 3rd, 2025.

InterCaribbean

InterCaribbean’s first flight to Georgetown took off from Grenada at 12:50 local time on December 1st. Guyana is the airline’s first market in South America, which will serve twice a week on 50-seat Embraer 145s.

Thursday and Sunday

• JY 725  Grenada GND 12:20 · 13:50 GEO Georgetown
• JY 726  Georgetown GEO 14:40 · 16:10 GND Grenada

LATAM

LATAM Airlines launched several routes within Latin America between late November and early December from its main hubs, Santiago de Chile and Lima.

In some cases these are post-pandemic restarts, while others are new routes.

• Fortaleza (FOR) – Santiago (SCL): 1 weekly · November 30th
• Lima (LIM) – Montego Bay (MBJ): 3 weekly · December 1st
• Lima (LIM) – Rosario (ROS): 3 weekly · December 1st
• Santiago (SCL) – Punta del Este (PDP): 3 weekly · December 5th
• Santiago (SCL) – Bariloche (BRC): 3 weekly · December 6th
• Recife (REC) – Santiago (SCL): 1 weekly · December 7th

PLAY

At 06:19 local time on November 1st, PLAY’s first charter flight from Miami landed in Havana. The Icelandic airline will operate charters between the United States and Cuba for Global X, from November to March 2025.

Havana, Holguín and Santa Clara will be the Cuban cities with charter flights, mainly offered from Miami and Tampa.

PLAY will serve with the Airbus A321-251N registered as TF-PLA, which is configured for 214 passengers in single class. The aircraft arrived in Miami on October 29th from Reykjavik on a ferry flight.

• Miami (MIA) – Havana (HAV): 4 weekly
• Miami (MIA) – Holguín (HOG): 3 weekly
• Miami (MIA) – Santa Clara (SNU): 2 weekly
• Tampa (TPA) – Havana (HAV): 2 weekly
• Tampa (TPA) – Holguín (HOG): 2 weekly

Rutaca

At the end of October, Rutaca inaugurated its services to Puerto España (Port of Spain) from Porlamar, to be operated three times weekly on Boeing 737-300s with a capacity for 149 passengers.

Monday, Thursday and Sunday

• 5R 1210  Porlamar PMV 13:00 · 13:40 POS Port of Spain
• 5R 1211  Port of Spain POS 15:00 · 15:40 PMV Porlamar

The capital of Trinidad and Tobago has flights to Caracas and Porlamar, with respect to Venezuelan cities.

SATENA

The Colombian airline continues to expand its domestic flights, with the launch of two new routes starting in December, in addition to increasing frequencies on an existing service.

Servicio Aéreo a Territorios Nacionales, also known as SATENA, will provide this schedule:

• Bogotá (BOG) – Flandes (GIR): 2 weekly · December 2nd
• Medellín (EOH) – Buenaventura (BUN): 2 weekly · December 18th
• Medellín (EOH) – Mompox (MMP): increases from 2 to 3 weekly · December 18th

SATENA will operate these routes with 19-seat Beechcraft 1900 aircraft.

SKY

On November 28th, at 16:05 local time, the first SKY Airline flight from Santiago de Chile landed at Luis Candelaria airport in Bariloche. This seasonal route, as in previous summers, will be operated until March of next year.

SKY will fly four times per week during summer 2024/25, in contrast to the three weekly flights performed last summer.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

• H2 651  Santiago SCL 14:10 · 16:05 BRC Bariloche
• H2 652  Bariloche BRC 17:05 · 19:00 SCL Santiago

Furthermore, as we commented in the LATAM section, the Chilean airline inaugurated services between Santiago de Chile and Bariloche on December 6th. For the first time, SKY will have a direct competitor on this route, and LATAM Chile returned to operate the SCL-BRC service after almost seven years.

• Lima (LIM) – Buenos Aires (EZE): 7 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Buenos Aires (AEP) – Lima (LIM): 5 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Buenos Aires (EZE) – Lima (LIM): 2 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Buenos Aires (EZE) – Santiago (SCL): 19 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Santiago (SCL) – Bariloche (BRC): 4 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (AEP): 19 weekly · Airbus A320neo
• Santiago (SCL) – Buenos Aires (EZE): 9 weekly · A20N/A21N
• Santiago (SCL) – Mendoza (MDZ): 9 weekly · A20N/A21N

Regarding SKY and Argentina, the low cost carrier will start flying to El Calafate (FTE) from Santiago (SCL) on December 18th, a city located in the Argentine Patagonia.

United Airlines

Puerto Escondido, United’s new destination in Mexico.

The company will begin operations from Houston with Mesa Airlines Embraer 175 aircraft starting April 5th, 2025. In line with its website, United Airlines will fly once a week:

Saturday

• UA 6318  Houston IAH 09:51 · 11:35 PXM Puerto Escondido
• UA 6319  Puerto Escondido PXM 12:35 · 16:17 IAH Houston

Venezolana

Flights with Boeing 737-200?

Venezolana intends to serve the Maracaibo-Porlamar route with its Boeing 737-200, which is 47 years old.

According to its website, this is the schedule offered between the two cities, although the aircraft used are not shown:

Thursday and Sunday

• WW 1321  Maracaibo MAR 11:30 · 12:45 PMV Porlamar
• WW 1322  Porlamar PMV 17:45 · 19:00 MAR Maracaibo

Avior and Estelar Latinoamérica are other Venezuelan airlines that have Boeing 737-200s in their fleets. The same occurs in Colombia, with Aerosucre.

Viva

The Mexican carrier will add a new route to the United States on April 2nd, 2025.

Viva will fly between Querétaro and Dallas Fort/Worth with 180-seat Airbus A320-200 aircraft, twice-weekly:

Wednesday and Saturday

• VB 582  Querétaro QRO 16:20 · 19:55 DFW Dallas
• VB 583  Dallas DFW 21:05 · 22:30 QRO Querétaro

As we announced in our United States and Canada report, these are other routes to be introduced by Viva to the US, as well as Volaris.

Wingo

Starting December 18th, the Medellín-based Colombian airline will expand its international schedule with two new routes. Wingo will operate both services on 186-seat Boeing 737-800s.

From Medellín

• Willemstad (CUR): 2 weekly · December 18th
• San José (SJO): 2 weekly · December 18th

Balboa, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cancún, Caracas, Cartagena, Oranjestad, Punta Cana, Santa Marta and Santo Domingo are its current routes to/from MDE.

Z Air

Z Air, an airline of the Netherlands Antilles, made a significant step in its fleet, with the addition of the first Embraer.

The Embraer ERJ-140LR, registration N841AE, is 22 years old and has a 44-seat single-class configuration. Between 2002 and 2020, the aircraft operated for American Eagle, Envoy and Regional One, when it was stored at Marana in November 2020.

Consistent with our database, the aircraft has been at Carbondale Murphysboro since November 12th, at the time of publication. A photo of the aircraft at this airport (MDH/KMDH) was uploaded to JetPhotos, where it can be seen that it has already received the Z Air livery.

With this incorporation, Z Air reaches four planes in its fleet.

Aircraft added by Latin American airlines

• Air Caraïbes

• avianca

• Copa Airlines

• Flybondi (Avion Express)

• JetSMART

• Volaris

Other reports we have published

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

Cover photo: Hongyu Wang – JetPhotos