Mexican airline Viva Aerobus and Colombian airline Avianca announced an interline agreement on Friday to expand their routes to over 50 destinations in both countries. 

The agreement will allow Avianca passengers traveling from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica to connect with 28 cities in Mexico via Mexico City and Cancún.

In turn, Viva Aerobus customers traveling to Bogotá from Mexico City, Cancún, Guadalajara and Monterrey will be able to make connections with 23 destinations operated by Avianca within Colombia.

“I believe in the potential of Colombia and Mexico as two of the most relevant markets in Latin America,” Chief Commercial Officer of Avianca Manuel Ambriz said, adding that the agreement will enable customers to  carry out the connections under one single ticket. 

“An interline agreement like this allows our customers to purchase one ticket through any of our direct sales channels and travel agencies … a single transaction [will] guarantee connections between Avianca flights and Viva Aerobus flights within Mexico (or vice versa), with one check-in and labeled luggage through to the final destination,” Ambriz explained.

“The alliance with Avianca, an airline with more than 100 years of history and recognized as one of the most important on the continent, strengthens our air offer between Mexico and Colombia,” Director of Alliances at Viva Aerobus Jordi Porcel added. 

Colombia was the third largest country of origin for passengers (after the United States and Canada) arriving by air in Mexico in 2023, with 604,468 tourists — up 23.9% from 2019. 

Avianca was the first commercial airline founded in the Americas and the second worldwide, just after KLM from the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Viva Aerobus flew nearly 25 million passengers in 2023, a 20.7% increase over 2022 that made them the fastest-growing domestic airline last year.

With reports from Portafolio