Meet The Winners: ProColombia

While the conversations began at regional events, they’re far from over. In our Routes Revisited series, the voices of our award winners, exhibitors and Routes 360 members, highlight their achievements, insights and ambitions for the future. These conversations offer space for reflection and renewed perspective, sustaining the dialogue as we build momentum towards Routes World 2026.

During the Routes Americas Awards in Rio de Janeiro, ProColombia was named the winner of the Destination category in recognition of the country’s strongest year on record for international air connectivity.

In 2025, Colombia was connected to 31 countries and 60 international destinations through nonstop services operated by 30 airlines serving 11 cities across the country. International capacity exceeded 14.9 million seats across 78,756 flights, representing year-on-year growth of 11.9% in seats and 10.2% in frequencies.

Overall, Colombia saw the launch of 22 new international routes across strategic markets in North, South and Central America, and the Caribbean. Among the highlights were GOL’s launches from Brasília and Manaus to Bogotá, creating nonstop links between the capitals for the first time, and Avianca’s new service between Dallas and Bogotá, alongside additional routes from Tampa, Córdoba, Monterrey and Belém. Further expansion came from JetSMART’s seasonal services linking Punta Cana with Cali and Medellín, LATAM Airlines’ new routes from Curaçao and Aruba to Bogotá, and Wingo’s inaugural Montego Bay–Bogotá service, adding Jamaica to Colombia’s international network.

One of the most significant market developments was the expansion of capacity from Canada, with four new routes launched by Air Canada, Air Transat and Sunwing. As a result, these new frequencies and the current services from Avianca, led the capacity from Canada to increase by 24.6%, reaching more than 250,000 seats, a 21.1% increase compared to 2024, according to data from OAG.

These results mark Colombia's strongest tourism performance since 2011, positioning the country among the top 20 nations globally for tourism growth when compared to 2019 levels. Colombia now ranks as the third most popular destination in South America for international visitors, while Bogotá has secured its position as Latin America's busiest airport by passenger traffic volume, according to data from OAG and Migration Colombia.

This growth is closely linked to tourism development, a key driver of Colombia’s economy. Under the country brand “Colombia, the Country of Beauty,” the destination promotes six tourism regions offering a diverse portfolio of experiences. Improved air connectivity has been essential to supporting this vision, enabling travellers to seamlessly combine major cities, heritage towns, beaches, mountains and nature destinations within a single trip, while facilitating access to emerging regional markets beyond the main gateways.

Enhanced air service has played an important role in improving access to both major gateways and emerging regional markets. Recent examples include Aeromexico’s launch of flights between Mexico City and Cartagena, Air Transat’s Toronto–Cartagena–Medellín service, and JetSMART’s Punta Cana–Cali route, all of which have strengthened connectivity to destinations beyond Bogotá.

“For ProColombia, receiving this recognition at the Routes Americas Awards is an important achievement. Our mission is to promote Colombia as a diverse and accessible destination, supported by its biodiversity, cultural richness, and strong air connectivity,” said Darío Rodríguez, innovations and synergies manager at ProColombia. “This award recognizes the country’s collaboration with airlines to build sustainable routes and long-term partnerships that improve global access. We remain committed to promoting Colombia as a top destination for travellers and businesses.”

“We are looking to strengthen and diversify Colombia’s air connectivity and facilitate easy access to different destinations. Our focus has two dimensions; the first is to diversify and strengthen strategic markets. In some of the biggest markets such as the U.S., Brazil and Canada, we’re looking to diversify the destinations served. In markets such as Argentina, Chile and Peru, we have identified growth opportunities that we want to reinforce. The second dimension of our focus is to diversify the destinations served within Colombia. We are working with airport partners to help the traveller to connect with even more of our regions,” Rodríguez added.

Reflecting on its recognition as Destination winners during the Routes Americas Awards, Rodríguez credits ProColombia’s strategy and longstanding partnerships as merits for success: “Winning the Routes Americas Destination category is not just an award - this is a validation that our strategy is working. This award recognises the work that ProColombia and its airport partners have been doing over the last decade. It’s recognition from the industry of all of the work that has been done up to this point to show that Colombia is a reliable destination for airlines to work with.”