These are the new air routes that will open in Ecuador this semester

Three airlines that operate in the Ecuadorian market are preparing new routes to be able to implement them in this first half of the year.

The new destinations will connect Quito, Guayaquil and Manta with cities in Colombia and Panama.

Avianca, Latam and Copa have announced plans to expand new routes and frequencies until June. These include various destinations, such as Bogotá, Cartagena, Medellín and Panama City, which will make it possible to increase connectivity.

In addition to that, it is known that Avianca, for example, has submitted requests to the Ecuadorian Civil Aviation Council for the modification of a permit to include the following in the route chart: Quito and/or Guayaquil-Caracas, and vice versa.

This request includes up to seven weekly frequencies and third and fourth freedom rights on that route.

Direct flights between Manta and Panama are sold from $316.05 per section

It also intends to introduce a change in its current permit on the route to New York, which currently operates from Guayaquil; the airline seeks to modify it to include Quito. Thus, your permit would be: Quito and/or Guayaquil-New York-vice versa, in up to fourteen (14) weekly frequencies, with rights of third and fourth freedoms. These routes, however, have not yet been announced.

Latam, which has national and international flights, included flights to Bogotá from Guayaquil as part of its expansion plan in the region.

Since March, new direct routes to Cartagena and Medellín have been incorporated

In January 2023, passenger traffic (measured in rented passenger-kilometres-RPK) grew 24.9% compared to the same period in 2022, and operations measured in ASK (available seat-kilometres) increased by 23.9% . This implied that the load factor increased 0.7 percentage points, reaching 81.1%, indicated Latam.

For its part, Copa is already promoting its new destination Manta-Panama City on its web portal. The flights will leave Panama at 15:10 and arrive in Manta at 17:28. They will depart from Manta at 6:18 p.m. and land in Panama at 8:30 p.m. There will be three weekly flights: Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

These are the new routes announced:

Avianca

(As of March 26)

• Guayaquil-Cartagena: 3 weekly frequencies.

• Quito-Medellín: 4 weekly frequencies.

• Guayaquil-Medellín: 3 weekly frequencies.

Latam Airlines Ecuador

• Guayaquil and Bogotá with 7 weekly frequencies starting in March.

Cup

• Manta-Panama City with three weekly frequencies from June 27.

Niels Olsen, Minister of Tourism, announced this week the three new Avianca routes. “With these new routes, Ecuador will attract more Colombian and international tourists visiting those destinations,” he said.

The Government of Ecuador has signed open skies agreements with other countries so that new airlines can enter Ecuador. (YO)