Avianca Express (legally ''Regional Express Américas S.A.S.'') is a Colombian

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

founded in December 2018. It is owned by

Avianca Group Avianca Group International Limited (formerly Avianca Holdings S.A. and AviancaTaca Holding Inc.) is a pan-regional Latin American multinational airline holding company with its registered office in St Albans, England, and its global headquarter ...

and is being phased in, as of spring 2019, as part of the adjustment plan for its operating model and in search of more

profitability In economics, profit is the difference between revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and total costs of its inputs, also known as surplus value. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both Explicit co ...

and

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste. ...

History

The peculiarity of Avianca Holdings' new strategy is that flights are not routed through an

airline hub An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer (or stop-over) points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the s ...

, but from point-to-point. In return,

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

gradually withdrew from regional centers and intends to serve only important national and international destinations in the future. Flight operations were carried out exclusively with a fleet of

ATR 72-600 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pass ...

s, a twin-engine turboprop aircraft that fits with regional airports with shorter runways and a more limited aviation infrastructure. Avianca Holdings received

Aerocivil The Civil Aviation Authority of Colombia (, also known as ''Aeronáutica Civil'', ''Aerocivil'' or UAEAC) is a government agency of the Colombian Ministry of Transport (Colombia), Ministry of Transport. It is the agency in charge of regulating ci ...

's air traffic approval for the Colombian regional market in February 2018. From March 1, 2019, the airline embarked on regional routes from

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

to cities such as

Manizales Manizales () is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the Caldas Department, Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Currently, the city is the main center for the production of Colombian coffee and an importa ...

, Florencia,

Villavicencio Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. The capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The municipality had a population of 531,275 in 2018. The city is located at 4°08'N, 73°40'W, 75 km (about 45 ...

Yopal Yopal () is a municipality and capital city of the department of Casanare in Colombia and the second most populated and important city in the Orinoquía region after Villavicencio. History Before the period of the Spanish colonization of the ...

Neiva Neiva () is the capital and most populated city of the Department of Huila, south central Colombia. It is located in the valley of the Magdalena River with a municipal population of 388,299. It is one of the most important cities in southern Co ...

Ibagué Ibagué () (referred to as San Bonifacio de Ibagué del Valle de las Lanzas during the New Kingdom of Granada, Spanish period) is the capital of Tolima Department, Tolima, one of the 32 departments that make up the Republic of Colombia. The city ...

, and

Popayán Popayán () is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in the Pubenza Valley in southwestern Colombia between the Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range. The municipality has a population of 318,059, an a ...

; and also from

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

Pasto Pasto, officially San Juan de Pasto (; "Saint John of Pasto"), is the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. Pasto was founded in 1537 and named after indigenous people of the area. In the 2018 census, the municipality ...

and

Tumaco Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia, by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited main ...

. Since August 2019, it also flies between

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

and Cartagena. The airline, previously known under its working title ''Regional Express Américas'', received its final name ''Avianca Express'' in mid-February 2020. On March 30, 2020, Avianca Express started operating at

Olaya Herrera Airport Olaya Herrera Airport () is an airport located in Medellín, Colombia, that serves regional and domestic flights. Additionally, the airport is used by general aviation and features several hangars for charters. It was formerly known as ''Medel ...

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

, which Avianca had not served in 20 years, with connections to

Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in the Pacific/Chocó natural region, Pacific Region of Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of and a population of 129,237, predominantly A ...

Montería Montería () is a municipality and city located in northern Colombia and the capital of the Departments of Colombia, Department of Córdoba Department, Córdoba. The city is located away from the Caribbean sea, by the Sinú River. The city and r ...

and

. Apart from this, a new flight plan came into force, which included improvements to connections to and from Bogotá, and also a new connection to

Barrancabermeja Barrancabermeja () is a municipality and city in Colombia, located on the shore of the Magdalena River, in the western part of the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country, under direct management of ECOP ...

Destinations

As of June 2023, the following destinations are served by Avianca Express:

Fleet

Current fleet

, Avianca Express operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Avianca Express previously operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

*On September 7, 2019, an

(registered HK-5041) suffered a

tailstrike In aviation, a tailstrike or tail strike occurs when the tail or empennage of an aircraft strikes the ground or other stationary object. This can happen with a fixed-wing aircraft with tricycle undercarriage, in both takeoff where the pilot r ...

on landing at

La Nubia Airport La Nubia Airport is an airport serving Manizales, Colombia, southeast of the city's downtown. Due to its short runway and limited ramp space, the only aircraft that can use the airport are turbopropeller aircraft such as the Fokker 50, ATR ...

. The aircraft landed and rolled out normally to its parking position. All 49 passengers and 5 crew members were uninjured.

References

External links

{{Avianca Airlines of Colombia Airlines established in 2018