Kilgen wrote:

If not mistaken all the seats are installed at COPESA.

I've read in local sources that COOPESA placed at SJO would add some modifications at these jet-planes.
I ignore further details.

Regards.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boei ... SKBN2B120A

based on this CM cancelled 7 Max !!

" February’s cancelations were 32 737 MAX planes, including 15 by Canada’s WestJet, eight by lessor Jackson Square, seven by Panama’s Copa Airlines, and one order each for BOC Aviation and a business jet customer."

AV SJO-MIA will resume their legendary services from July 2021.
GRUPO TACA abandoned this route 10 years ago or so, in favour of TA SJO-SAL and then TA SAL-MIA and vice versa.
The former LACSA operated this segment for years.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

AV SJO-MIA will resume their legendary services from July 2021.
GRUPO TACA abandoned this route 10 years ago or so, in favour of TA SJO-SAL and then TA SAL-MIA and vice versa.
The former LACSA operated this segment for years.

AV will also resume GUA- JFK/IAD. Don’t know the exact date though.

avi8 wrote:

SJOtoLIR wrote:

AV SJO-MIA will resume their legendary services from July 2021.
GRUPO TACA abandoned this route 10 years ago or so, in favour of TA SJO-SAL and then TA SAL-MIA and vice versa.
The former LACSA operated this segment for years.

AV will also resume GUA- JFK/IAD. Don’t know the exact date though.

Do you know if AV will return to ORD?

avi8 wrote:

SJOtoLIR wrote:

AV SJO-MIA will resume their legendary services from July 2021.
GRUPO TACA abandoned this route 10 years ago or so, in favour of TA SJO-SAL and then TA SAL-MIA and vice versa.
The former LACSA operated this segment for years.

AV will also resume GUA- JFK/IAD. Don’t know the exact date though.

They will have to compete against Jetblue on the JFK Market and IAD is already served by UAL a Star partner.

https://www.eleconomista.net/economia/A ... -0003.html

Juanchito

timberwolf24 wrote:

Do you know if AV will return to ORD?

The press release didn't mention any word about the return of AV SAL-ORD.
It rather states about the temporary suspension of selected routes served from San Salvador: AV SAL-MIA, AV SAL-MEX, AV SAL-YYZ, AV SAL-IAH and AV SAL-DFW.
AV and TA flew to Miami from many regional cities: Guatemala City, San Salvador, Belize City, Managua, San Pedro Sula, Roatan, Tegucigalpa and San Jose. Some sources only report AV SAL-MGA-MIA by now,
Mexico City is also experiencing the suspension of AV [Central America-MEX], being served from SAL, GUA and SJO as non-stops flights in the past.
Los Angeles and Washington D.C. look like the most profitable US routes from Central America for the time being on AV and they're opting for the diversification of their services, given the imminent opening of both AV SAL-ONT and AV GUA-IAD.
However, UA is offering competition on the following equations:
San Salvador: UA IAD-SAL + AV IAD-SAL
Guatemala City: UA IAD-GUA + AV IAD-GUA

Regards.

juanchito wrote:

They will have to compete against Jetblue on the JFK Market

Is B6 JFK-GUA absolutely confirmed for April 2021 ?
JetBlue had planned to start service to Guatemala City in 2020, but the Covid-19 disease forced the airline to quit the launch.

Regards.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

juanchito wrote:

They will have to compete against Jetblue on the JFK Market

Is B6 JFK-GUA absolutely confirmed for April 2021 ?
JetBlue had planned to start service to Guatemala City in 2020, but the Covid-19 disease forced the airline to quit the launch.

Regards.

IIRC, they originally updated the start time to end of April. Now, they have pushed it up to April 15th and running 5x weekly up until early June (which is how far out they've cut to). Keep in mind that GEO is only at 4x weekly and BOG is 2 to 4x weekly. So, they look to be seeing better bookings for GUA than other similarly announced destinations.

I'd imagine SAL and/or SAP get announced this year.

If a knowledgeable carrier with tons of experience in the VFR markets of Latin America like B6 cannot make a route from NY to the largest city in Central America (GUA) work, then they need to take a look at what they are doing. They start in April, and I understand bookings are healthy. We shall see.

I also agree we are likely to see them on JFK SAL soon. I suspect BZE, SAP and PTY are not far behind as well.

LightChop2Chop wrote:

I also agree we are likely to see them on JFK SAL soon. I suspect BZE, SAP and PTY are not far behind as well.

IMHO, the likes of B6 flying to PTY are very low.
PTY-NYC VFR traffic is well taken care by UA/CM hub to hub flights.
B6 VFR service from FLL and even JFK to either RIH or BLB for Panama City, that's another thing.

I don't stand convinced if the opening of B6 JFK-GUA would mean the spread of the airline in the rest of Central America nowadays.
Even Mexico is only operated at SJD, CUN and MEX.
In my view, SAP and SAL are holding the chance of future planes of the airline and coming from New York City area.
AV/TA flew SAL-SAP-JFK prior to the Covid-19 era and AV SAL-JFK is steadily operated.

InterJet hasn't returned to Central America. They' re not operating even for the domestic market in Mexico.
Copa Airlines, AeroMexico and Volaris are attending this market.
AeroMexico Connect is not flying yet to Belize City, Managua and Liberia.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

juanchito wrote:

They will have to compete against Jetblue on the JFK Market

Is B6 JFK-GUA absolutely confirmed for April 2021 ?
JetBlue had planned to start service to Guatemala City in 2020, but the Covid-19 disease forced the airline to quit the launch.

Regards.

Confirmed first flight will be April 15, if I remember correctly they will switch to a A321 insted of a A320 later this year.

Regards.

IAD-GUA is getting a nice boost with a more consistent service by UA. The United hub at IAD is making up for lost European demand by strengthening their Caribbean and Central American flights. UA arrives GUA late at night and return leaves GUA in the morning. Maybe if AV indeed starts IAD-GUA, they would try to compete by having different flight times in and out of GUA?

SJOtoLIR wrote:

AeroMexico Connect is not flying yet to Belize City, Managua and Liberia.

AM are short on aircraft. perhaps Volaris might pick these up since slots are easier at MEX these days. I don't know about LIR but MEX-MGA/BZE ran decent loads when the operated (pre max aircraft shortage issues)

Belize City and Liberia lost the connectivity to Central America and beyond by means of their regular jet airlines.
Their current services are primarily focused to the United States.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Belize City and Liberia lost the connectivity to Central America and beyond by means of their regular jet airlines.
Their current services are primarily focused to the United States.

I assume CM will be back on PTY-LIR And PTY-BZE later this year as the traffic starts to flow again. Didn't they get rid of their EMB fleet? If so that means those markets will be getting 737s

LightChop2Chop wrote:

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Belize City and Liberia lost the connectivity to Central America and beyond by means of their regular jet airlines.
Their current services are primarily focused to the United States.

I assume CM will be back on PTY-LIR And PTY-BZE later this year as the traffic starts to flow again. Didn't they get rid of their EMB fleet? If so that means those markets will be getting 737s

If South America - LIR traffic doesn't re-start soon, LIR might take a really long time to return to CM network. Adding LIR to GUA flights 2-3 times per week may not that attractive as traffic demand between LIR and GUA is almost none.
BZE does have demand from South America (VVI, ASU, Colombia - among others) so i'm guessing it'll surely return this year.

2travel2know2 wrote:

LightChop2Chop wrote:

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Belize City and Liberia lost the connectivity to Central America and beyond by means of their regular jet airlines.
Their current services are primarily focused to the United States.

I assume CM will be back on PTY-LIR And PTY-BZE later this year as the traffic starts to flow again. Didn't they get rid of their EMB fleet? If so that means those markets will be getting 737s

If South America - LIR traffic doesn't re-start soon, LIR might take a really long time to return to CM network. Adding LIR to GUA flights 2-3 times per week may not that attractive as traffic demand between LIR and GUA is almost none.
BZE does have demand from South America (VVI, ASU, Colombia - among others) so i'm guessing it'll surely return this year.

I don't think anyone has suggested the existence of LIR-GUA. It makes little to no sense at all. I would argue that adding BZE-GUA on an ATR would make the most sense, and letting that flight connect to SAL and other flights AV has from GUA.

The former TA flew SAL-LIR with ATR-42 for a while from 2010. It was scheduled as 4x weekly.
They could catch some inbound traffic from North America through SAL.
CM PTY-LIR began in 2012 twice a week, until the known temporary suspension in 2020.
Even SAL-BZE and SAL-RTB are sadly no longer in service by now.

avi8 wrote:

2travel2know2 wrote:

LightChop2Chop wrote:

I assume CM will be back on PTY-LIR And PTY-BZE later this year as the traffic starts to flow again. Didn't they get rid of their EMB fleet? If so that means those markets will be getting 737s

If South America - LIR traffic doesn't re-start soon, LIR might take a really long time to return to CM network. Adding LIR to GUA flights 2-3 times per week may not that attractive as traffic demand between LIR and GUA is almost none.
BZE does have demand from South America (VVI, ASU, Colombia - among others) so i'm guessing it'll surely return this year.

I don't think anyone has suggested the existence of LIR-GUA. It makes little to no sense at all. I would argue that adding BZE-GUA on an ATR would make the most sense, and letting that flight connect to SAL and other flights AV has from GUA.

BZE-GUA is served by Tag Airlines codeshared with Tropic.

Regards.

Seems like DL is adding MSP BZE starting December. A friend of mine just booked it

timberwolf24 wrote:

avi8 wrote:

SJOtoLIR wrote:

AV SJO-MIA will resume their legendary services from July 2021.
GRUPO TACA abandoned this route 10 years ago or so, in favour of TA SJO-SAL and then TA SAL-MIA and vice versa.
The former LACSA operated this segment for years.

AV will also resume GUA- JFK/IAD. Don’t know the exact date though.

Do you know if AV will return to ORD?

I dont know if ORD would be high on the list to resume simply because so much of the demand is VFR based and Chicago has a small Central American population. Its foreign born Hispanic population is very centered around Mexico.

The main regional airlines have temporarily suspended some routes. In most cases, it's uncertain when they would operate again.
The routes in service are of course, all those qualifying as the most profitable segments for them. Some of them, are working with limited weekly frequencies as compared to the scenario prior to 2020.
Nevertheless, some carriers have started new routes lately and especially coming from the United States. It seems to be the highest maket for Central America by now.

La Aurora airport has been closed to operations since yesterday morning because of ash and sand from erupting Pacaya volcano. Authorities are hopping that today to re open operations.
6 commercial airplanes where in the ground when this happened.
2 United Airlines 737-800 N77518 and N76528
1 American Airlines 737-800 N929NN
1 American Airlines 737-MAX8 N304RB
1 Volaris A319 N504VL
1 Avianca A319 N521TA
1 Copa 737-800 HP-1855CMP

This is a picture I took on Sunday of the erupting volcano with Iberia on final approach



Regards.

Watching some photos in other sources, it's sad how all the planes were coated for the volcanic ash.
The jets belonging to the mainline carriers parked the last night at GUA looked with an unusual gray color.
It's odd why they didn't cover the inlets of both engines of that private jet.

This thread has some more pictures.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1459051&p=22709763#p22709763

By the way flights are departing and arriving since morning today.

Regards.

LH FRA-SJO goes from 3x to 5x weekly as shown:

LH 518...FRA 13.40......SJO 17.50..........343.....Tu, Th, Fr, Sa, Su
LH 519...SJO 19.35......FRA 15.00+1......343.....Tu, Th, Fr, Sa, Su
Effective: March 28th

Avianca retired today the ATR72 from Central America.
Last flight was SAL-GUA-SAL. Then the airplane returned to GUA for storage or to be prepared to return to lessor.

Regards

That’s sad. That plane allowed some of the smaller routes to survive. It now seems like most p2p routes in Central America won’t come back.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

LH FRA-SJO goes from 3x to 5x weekly as shown:

LH 518...FRA 13.40......SJO 17.50..........343.....Tu, Th, Fr, Sa, Su
LH 519...SJO 19.35......FRA 15.00+1......343.....Tu, Th, Fr, Sa, Su
Effective: March 28th

any idea why LH increased? they were basically for years at twice weekly flights, this might pop up some cargo capacity but still strange to me.

Avianca wrote:

any idea why LH increased?

This is solely my own interpretation: as of November 2020, Costa Rica eased their policies for the entrance of visitors from both LIR and SJO.
Few countries worldwide like Costa Rica have their air-boundaries opened by now.
As tourism represents the primary source of revenues for the country, someone who wants to come here at this time must only provide an electronic health declaration and travel insurance.
These restrictions couldn't represent any issue for visitors, as compared to the scenario in other Latin American countries.
I had posted some links on this board in June 2020 or so, about how the mentioned German airline was desperately asking for the resumption of LH FRA-SJO, which could be basically focused for the leisure component, like AF CDG-SJO and WK ZRH-SJO. That demonstrates by itself about the amount of passengers who were willing to travel to Costa Rica, when our airports were totally closed for scheduled operations. Local authorities have promoted the following of strict healthy measurements for making tourism here safely,
On the other hand, the demand of passengers is available only from Europe to Costa Rica at this time. Even so, LH FRA-SJO was up-gauged from 3x to 5x weekly as pointing out before.
I've read in some local press releases how IB SJO-MAD had operated the eastbound sector filling their empty plans with cargo into the main passenger cabin; specifically, fruits like pine-apples. I ignore if LH SJO-FRA is following the same model as well.

https://sites.google.com/presidencia.go.cr/alertas/ingreso-de-turistas-al-pa%C3%ADs

Regards.

Jet Blue and AA had JFK-SJO/SJO JFK scheduled evening flights for April and May. Then flights were canceled. I had purchased 4 trips for April/May. Now I have to go through UA Ewr-SJO. Too bad I like flying home Sunday night. I get the whole weekend with my family. They both resume service from JFK in June

According to Costa Rican officials, the second semester of 2021 will bring back airline frequencies and routes. Among the ones mentioned are the already known LH going from 3x to 5x weekly to SJO, AV resuming SJO-GUA-LAX and SJO-MIA, also TUI resuming LGW-LIR.

What stands the most are the comments on KL flying yo LIR on June which would mean a modification on the seasonal approach KL had been deploying on the Costa Rican market. Number of frequencies or specific route (possible AMS-SJO-LIR-AMS as flown right now) were not mentioned.

Source:

https://www.nacion.com/el-pais/servicio ... PXI/story/

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Avianca wrote:

any idea why LH increased?

This is solely my own interpretation: as of November 2020, Costa Rica eased their policies for the entrance of visitors from both LIR and SJO.
Few countries worldwide like Costa Rica have their air-boundaries opened by now.
As tourism represents the primary source of revenues for the country, someone who wants to come here at this time must only provide an electronic health declaration and travel insurance.
These restrictions couldn't represent any issue for visitors, as compared to the scenario in other Latin American countries.
I had posted some links on this board in June 2020 or so, about how the mentioned German airline was desperately asking for the resumption of LH FRA-SJO, which could be basically focused for the leisure component, like AF CDG-SJO and WK ZRH-SJO. That demonstrates by itself about the amount of passengers who were willing to travel to Costa Rica, when our airports were totally closed for scheduled operations. Local authorities have promoted the following of strict healthy measurements for making tourism here safely,
On the other hand, the demand of passengers is available only from Europe to Costa Rica at this time. Even so, LH FRA-SJO was up-gauged from 3x to 5x weekly as pointing out before.
I've read in some local press releases how IB SJO-MAD had operated the eastbound sector filling their empty plans with cargo into the main passenger cabin; specifically, fruits like pine-apples. I ignore if LH SJO-FRA is following the same model as well.

https://sites.google.com/presidencia.go.cr/alertas/ingreso-de-turistas-al-pa%C3%ADs

Regards.

also this is very welcome I cannot imagine that the flights are full. about Cargo yes for sure LH will now again transport more cargo on the eastbound but still the A340-300 is restricted on the route. On the other side about Iberia - yes they are moving quite a lot of cargo but not on the Passenger cabin, even not needed, as the fruits you are mentioning so high dense with weight that with only 50% of pax load the complete space in the lower deck could not be used due to weight restrictions.

cheers
Avianca

DL757NYC wrote:

Jet Blue and AA had JFK-SJO/SJO JFK scheduled evening flights for April and May. Then flights were canceled. I had purchased 4 trips for April/May. Now I have to go through UA Ewr-SJO. Too bad I like flying home Sunday night. I get the whole weekend with my family. They both resume service from JFK in June

Having said that, these flights are now working on a seasonal basis due to the shortage of the proper demand of passengers.
Both B6 JFK-SJO and AA JFK-SJO started in November 2019. One of them acted as a follower of the other.
So, both would be resumed for the US summer break. That makes sense of logic.
On the other hand, UA EWR-SJO has been actually working as year-round services, even during the latest six months.

Regards.

I see CM is resuming BZE on June 22. Does anyone know if they are resuming LIR too?

LightChop2Chop wrote:

I see CM is resuming BZE on June 22. Does anyone know if they are resuming LIR too?

According to their website, LIR starts on Dec 5. https://destinationsguide.copaair.com/

Here's the comprehensive list about the resumption of the destinations temporarily canceled on Copa Airlines.
Possible changes might occur without further notice and pending the respective government approval.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Here's the comprehensive list about the resumption of the destinations temporarily canceled on Copa Airlines.
Possible changes might occur without further notice and pending the respective government approval.

I'm surprised Puerto Vallarta, Liberia, Santa Clara and HolguÍn are coming back.
Perhaps Tour-operators in Brazil have been selling Santa Clara holiday programmes for 2022.
IMHO, CM might do better in FOR than PVR and/or LIR.

Cuba has experienced a large reduction of the amount of travelers coming to the island due to the sanitary crisis.
CM PTY-HAV had been ranked within the top-ten routes for the Panamanian airline before and now they're flying no more than thrice a week.
This segment had been operated up to 6x daily sometimes as Cuba is a favorite leisure destination for South Americans.
The late resumption of CM PTY-HOG and CM PTY-SNU give us an idea about this huge impact.

SJOtoLIR wrote:

Cuba has experienced a large reduction of the amount of travelers coming to the island due to the sanitary crisis.
CM PTY-HAV had been ranked within the top-ten routes for the Panamanian airline before and now they're flying no more than thrice a week.
This segment had been operated up to 6x daily sometimes as Cuba is a favorite leisure destination for South Americans.
The late resumption of CM PTY-HOG and CM PTY-SNU give us an idea about this huge impact.

However, CM could long ago started PTY-VRA at least thrice weekly aimed to connecting traffic and free some premium-fare seats from HAV route but hasn't done it yet.
Perhaps as leisure traffic demand to Cuba increases 2022, PTY-VRA might be on CM radar.

2travel2know2 wrote:

PTY-VRA might be on CM radar.

Varadero seems to be a feasible idea for Copa Airlines, in the long-time.
The proximity between Varadero and Havana couldn't represent any problem as the airline also flies CM PTY-MIA and CM PTY-FLL.
This comparison is not totally fair as VRA is focused for leisure traffic exclusively.
Perhaps some passengers on CM PTY-HAV are rather heading to Varadero as their final destination.
It would be interesting if PTY-VRA might work better than both PTY-SNU and PTY-HOG.

Regards.

AV is set to begin GUA-TGU and SJO- MIA

GUA-TGU 4 weekly on board A319; starts June 2nd
AV454 - TGU 10:15 - GUA 11:15
AV455 - GUA 15:05 - TGU 16:05

SJO-MIA Daily on board A320; no start date

AV 690 - SJO 10:35 - MIA 15:38
AV 691 - MIA 14:20 - SJO 15:23

avi8 wrote:

GUA-TGU 4 weekly on board A319; starts June 2nd
AV454 - TGU 10:15 - GUA 11:15
AV455 - GUA 15:05 - TGU 16:05

SJO-MIA Daily on board A320; no start date

AV 690 - SJO 10:35 - MIA 15:38
AV 691 - MIA 14:20 - SJO 15:23

AV did operate GUA-TGU and GUA-SAP with their ATRs, no longer in service within Central America.
That meant a seat capacity of 50 to 70 passengers.

The SJO-MIA segment was a legenday route for LACSA and even for GRUPO TACA. It was discontinued 10 years ago or so.
AA absorbed this bulky market deploying up to 3x-4x daily flights sometimes, in such route.
NK FLL-SJO commenced their operations in 2007 and then followed by WN and B6 later.

Regards.

is F9 still starting SAL and GUA?

LightChop2Chop wrote:

is F9 still starting SAL and GUA?

GUA starts next Monday from MIA. 2 weekly flights.

[quote="avi8"]AV is set to begin GUA-TGU and SJO- MIA

GUA-TGU 4 weekly on board A319; starts June 2nd
AV454 - TGU 10:15 - GUA 11:15
AV455 - GUA 15:05 - TGU 16:05

SJO-MIA Daily on board A320; no start date

AV 690 - SJO 10:35 - MIA 15:38
AV 691 - MIA 14:20 - SJO 15:23


SAP-MIA 3 weekly (MON, WED, SAT) on board A320 will start in July

AV536 - SAP 10:15 - MIA14:30
AV537 - MIA 15:55 - SAP 16:10

Seems to be part of the announced point to point route strategy.