JetSMART Colombia (Bogotá) began commercial flight operations in Colombia on March 14, with a service between Bogotá and Medellín José Maria Córdova onboard A320-200N CC-AWZ (msn 11551).
The start-up recently secured its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), Colombia’s civil aviation authority (Aerocivil) said in a statement. It is the JetSMART brand's fourth AOC, alongside JetSMART (JA, Santiago de Chile), JetSMART Argentina (WJ, Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini), and JetSMART Perú (JZ, Lima International).
The LCC has been granted permission to provide domestic services with an A320-200N fleet on these routes:
- Bogota-Medellín;
- Bogota-Cartagena Rafael Núñez International;
- Cartagena-Medellín;
- Bogota-Santa Marta;
- Medellín-Santa Marta;
- Bogota-Pereira;
- Cartagena-Pereira; and
- Cali-Cartagena.
It expects to carry over two million passengers in its first year of operations in Colombia, JetSMART said in a statement. It is entering a market that lost two ultra-low-cost carriers in 2023, Viva (Colombia) and Ultra Air.
Additionally, JetSMART Colombia announced it will establish its new hub in Medellín where it base three aircraft. JetSMART’s plans were to operate with brand-new jets in Colombia. However, its flight debut was conducted with an airframe sourced from its Chilean sister’s fleet. The company began operations in Colombia with three Chilean-based airframes, CC-AWV (msn 11162), CC-AWX (msn 11252), and CC-AWZ.
JetSMART launched operations in Colombia using its Chilean ‘JA’ code from the start having recently shifted away from using its separate codes for its subsidiaries in Argentina and Peru (‘WJ’ and ‘JZ’, respectively).
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that JetSMART operates a fleet of 23 aircraft in Chile, composed of three A320-200s, twelve A320-200Ns, and eight A321-200NX. The Argentinian branch has eight A320-200s while the Peruvian subsidiary operates four A320-200Ns.
