Avianca Holdings founder and chairman, Germán Efromovich, says the Colombian firm plans to equip Macair Jet (Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery) with eighteen turboprops by the end of the year should its proposed buy-out go ahead.
Speaking to El Tiempo newspaper, Efromovich said Avianca would use Macair Jet to gain a foothold in the domestic Argentine market.
"Argentina is an important market, and the idea is to start with this airline, which is regional, to gain access to the lucrative domestic market niche and to feed not only Star Alliance but also Avianca - i.e. Avianca Colombia and Avianca Brasil (São Paulo Congonhas) - that already have major links with Argentina," he said.
Avianca Holdings parent, Sinergy Group, is reportedly near signing a finalized agreement with Macair Jet's owners, the Macri family. Though it currently specializes in business charter operations, Macair Jet is also licensed to conduct scheduled passenger services which it does using a single Jetstream 32.
During the same interview, Efromovich also said that plans to merge Avianca and Avianca Brasil were still active pending the finalization of an agreement between the two respective boards.
Avianca Holdings' board rejected a proposal put forward by Efromovich last year after an unfavourable due diligence of OceanAir (Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont), the Brazilian carrier which is licensed by Avianca Holdings to operate as Avianca Brasil.
