Colombia's Aires aims to launch services to the US in the fourth quarter of this year with newly acquired Boeing 737-700s initially operating from Bogota to Fort Lauderdale and New York JFK.
Aires, which was a regional carrier until early this year when it launched services on domestic trunk routes with 737-700s, secured US DOT approval in March to launch US services. Aires CEO Francisco Mendez says the carrier is now going through the US FAA approval process, which it hopes to complete in about one month.
Once Aires receives FAA authorisation to operate into the US, Mendez says the carrier will set a launch date and begin tickets sales. "By November we should be in the US," he told ATI yesterday on the sidelines of the Low Cost Airlines World Americas conference in Miami.
Aires has secured traffic rights to serve Fort Lauderdale and New York JFK from Bogota, Barranquilla and Cartagena. But Mendez says "we'll start with Bogota first and then do the others".
Mendez says Aires also has applied for traffic rights to serve Ecuador and Venezuela. He says the carrier aims to launch 737-700 services from Bogota to both Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador and Caracas in Venezuela.
He says Aires, which now serves 26 destinations within Colombia, will offer a no-frills service on its first international routes with a buy-on-board option. Mendez explains that while Aires' regional operation follows a legacy business model, the new 737-700 operation follows a strict low-cost model.
Aires, which previously only operated Bombardier Dash 8 turboprops, took its first 737-700 in December. Mendez says it took three more 737-700s in the first half of this year and will take its fifth 737-700 next week.
All the 737-700s are used aircraft which were previously operated by low-cost carriers in Europe. Mendez says two are leased from Pembroke, two from AWAS and one from Aircastle.
Aires has been using the 737-700s since February to operate domestic trunk routes from Bogota. Mendez says the aircraft are now being used on eight routes from Bogota with a ninth destination, Leticia, to be launched on 17 July.
He says Aires will continue to operate all nine domestic trunk routes after it launches US services as it will increase utilisation of its 737-700 fleet. For now Mendez says Aires has no plans to add 737-700s, saying the five aircraft complete the first phase of its expansion programme and a second phase may later be considered depending on market conditions.
So far he says the response to Aires' new service on domestic trunk routes has been "very good". He says while there is a lot of capacity on these routes Aires fares are attractively low, starting at only $5 each way.
He adds in June Aires' load factor was "close to 80%", compared to only about 60% in April.
Mendez says the new services to the US will cater to ethnic traffic, in particular Colombian Americans heading back to Colombia to visit friends and families as large Colombian populations exist in both New York and South Florida. He says Aires selected Fort Lauderdale over Miami as the costs are lower at Fort Lauderdale.
Colombian flag carrier Avianca now serves Fort Lauderdale and Miami as well as New York JFK. Aires will also compete against Spirit Airlines, which serves Bogota from Fort Lauderdale and American Airlines and Lan, both of which serves Bogota from Miami. In the New York market, Delta Air Lines now serves Bogota from JFK and Continental Airlines serves Bogota from Newark, according to Innovata.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
