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 headquarters ...

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 the revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and the total cost of its inputs. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs. It i ...

and

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without ...

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 ...

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

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.'', "Airways of the American Continent") is a Colombian airline. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered under ...

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 (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed by ...

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 ( es, Unidad Administrativa Especial de Aeronáutica Civil, also known as ''Aeronáutica Civil'', ''Aerocivil'' or UAEAC) is a government agency of the Colombian Ministry of Transport. It is the agency in c ...

'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 period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

to cities such as

Manizales Manizales () is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the 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 important hub for higher ...

, Florencia,

Villavicencio Villavicencio () is a city and municipality in Colombia. Capital of Meta Department, it was founded on April 6, 1840. The city had an urban population of approximately 531,275 inhabitants in 2018.https://www.dane.gov.co/files/varios/informacion ...

Yopal Yopal () is a municipality and capital city of the department of Casanare in Colombia. History During the period of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the land on which Yopal stands was occupied by the indigenous Achagua people. The ...

Neiva Neiva () is the capital of the Department of Huila. It is located in the valley of the Magdalena River in south central Colombia with a population of about 357,392 inhabitants. It is one of the most important cities in southern Colombia, mainly ...

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

, and

Popayán Popayán () is the capital of the Colombian departments of Colombia, department of Cauca Department, Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between the Cordillera Occidental (Colombia), Western Mountain Range and Cordillera Central (Colo ...

; 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 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

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 city had app ...

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 mai ...

. Since August 2019, it also flies between

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 68 ...

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 ( es, Aeropuerto Olaya Herrera) 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. To ...

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

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

Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in Western Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 129,237, predominantly Afro Colombian, including Zambo C ...

Montería Montería () is a municipality and city located in northern Colombia and is 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 an ...

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 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 ECOPETROL. Barrancabermeja ...

Destinations

As of August 2022, the following destinations are served by Avianca Express:

Fleet

Current fleet

the Avianca Express fleet consists of 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 rot ...

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 72, ...

. 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