Colombia-US open skies to usher in new era of growth, led by JetBlue and LAN Colombia

The Colombia-US market is poised for rapid growth following the implementation of open skies between the two countries on 01-Jan-2013. JetBlue and LAN Colombia have already unveiled plans to add services in the Colombia-US market during 2013 and other carriers, including market leader Avianca, will likely follow.

JetBlue Airways plans to add a third Colombian destination, Medellin, from 13-Jun-2013 while LAN Colombia plans to deploy its newly acquired fleet of 767s on US routes. JetBlue has rapidly grown in Colombia since Bogota became its first destination in South America in 2009. LAN Colombia began serving the Bogota-Miami route in early 2012 with A320s and plans to transition these flights to 767s as well as launch new US routes.

There was 8% passenger growth in the Colombia-North America market through the first 10 months of 2012 to 2.1 million passengers, according to Colombian CAA data. The average load factor in the market was 84%, which suggests the market remains undersupplied. (The Colombia-North America market includes flights to/from the US and Canada but Canada only accounts for 3% of the total market).