Avianca Brazil SWOT: strong and growing airline, but still too small

Avianca Brazil has been the fastest growing airline in Brazil for the past several years. It is now the fourth largest player in the world's sixth largest domestic market and has pursued rapid international expansion since launching widebody operations just over a year ago.

The airline, which launched scheduled domestic services in 2002 and was known as Oceanair until 2010, was the original airline investment of the Synergy Group. Synergy added Colombia's Avianca to its portfolio in 2004, and in 2008 decided to accelerate expansion at Oceanair, which at the time was a tiny player with 14 aircraft and a less than 3% share of Brazil's domestic market.

Avianca Brazil now operates over 50 aircraft and has a 14% share of Brazil's domestic market. Its domestic operation has grown ten-fold over the past decade and currently consists of 27 destinations, while its new widebody operation serves four international destinations.