Avianca begins its operation between Guayaquil and New York

With 92 passengers, Avianca’s maiden flight took off on Wednesday afternoon on the Guayaquil-New York route.

The flight is part of a route expansion plan announced by the airline and which includes other destinations until 2022.

For this operation, the line used an A320 aircraft with capacity for 150 passengers. The route will be combined with an A319 aircraft.

It will have services on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with departures from Guayaquil at 4:45 PM. From New York it will take off at 01:00.

With this new operation, Avianca enters to compete with JetBlue and Eastern, which have direct services from Guayaquil. The route will add more frequencies available with the city of skyscrapers.

Manuel Ambriz, Avianca’s commercial manager, indicated that they have good expectations for this route, and announced that they will add others in the coming months. The executive said that they expect to have a 90% occupancy in high season in this destination.

The airline, which has a subsidiary in Ecuador, also plans to fly to Miami, Medellín and Cali from Quito and Guayaquil.

Currently, Avianca has 23 direct weekly flights to Bogotá and El Salvador and has a domestic operation.

Ángel Córdova, manager of Tagsa, the Guayaquil airport concessionaire, said that this service is expected to not only serve Ecuadorians, but also attract Americans.

In New York there is an important colony of Ecuadorians, especially in the Queens area, the area where the JFK airport is located.

The airline held a brief ceremony on the side of the runway to say goodbye to the inaugural flight. The Minister of Transport, Marcelo Cabrera, participated in the ribbon cutting of the flight. (I)