Avianca intends to expand its North American route network by introducing a new service to Montréal from Colombia’s capital Bogota.

The carrier opened its first service between Colombia and Canada a little more than two years ago with a route connecting Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport (BOG) and Toronto Pearson International Airport. This joined its existing flights to Toronto from San Salvador, El Salvador.

The latest expansion will see the Star Alliance member operate four flights per week to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), starting on March 31. Airbus A320 aircraft will be deployed on the 2,815-mi. (2,446-nm) sector, providing 1,200 weekly seats between the cities.

Since Avianca entered the Canadian market from Colombia in December 2021, the airline has carried about 350,000 passengers on more than 2,800 flights between the two nations.

“Currently, more than 120,000 Colombians live in Canada, and over 20,000 Canadian residents visit Colombia each year,” says Rolando Damas, director of sales for Avianca in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. “Undoubtedly, this new route will facilitate greater connections for tourists, students and businesses between the two countries.”

Avianca’s Star Alliance partner Air Canada is the sole operator of nonstop flights between Bogotá and Montréal at present, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows, flying three times per week using Airbus A330-300 equipment. The addition of Avianca’s service will increase the number of two-way weekly seats on the sector to more than 2,900.

Avianca’s flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, departing BOG at 2:20 p.m. and arriving in YUL at 10:05 p.m. The return leg departs at 11:25 p.m. and arrives back in the Colombian capital at 4:39 a.m. the next day. Air Canada flies the route from YUL on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“For an international airport like ours, this is great news, especially as this route will offer arrivals and departures at less busy times of the day, which fits perfectly with one of our recent strategies for developing our air services,” says Stéphane Lapierre, Aéroports de Montréal vice president for airport operations and air services development.

Avianca’s plans to increase international service from Bogota come a month after LATAM Airlines Group unveiled a new route from BOG to Madrid, starting in July 2024, and Brazil’s GOL Línhas Aéreas confirmed the addition of a fifth-freedom service between BOG and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Another recent route success at the airport—which will host Routes Americas 2024—is the launch of Edelweiss Air’s 2X-weekly Zurich-Bogotá-Cartagena-Zurich flights in November 2023.