Avianca Group
British multinational airline holding company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Avianca Group International Limited (formerly Avianca Holdings S.A. and AviancaTaca Holding Inc.) is a pan-regional Colombian multinational airline holding company with its registered office in St Albans, England, and its global headquarters in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the second largest air transport group in Latin America after LATAM Airlines Group.
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(Registered office)
Bogotá, Colombia
(Corporate headquarters)
| |
 Avianca Headquarters in Bogotá | |
| Company type | Private Limited Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Air transport |
| Founded | February 2010 |
| Headquarters | St Albans, England, UK (Registered office) Bogotá, Colombia (Corporate headquarters) |
Number of locations | Colombia (Bogotá) |
Key people | Frederico Pedreira (CEO) Roberto Kriete (Chairman) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |  US$ 4.3 billion (2012) |
| US$ 198.6 million (2012) | |
Number of employees | +30,000 (2025) |
| Parent | Abra Group |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | ir |
The Group dates back when it was formed in February 2010 after a merger agreement between Avianca and TACA Airlines, the flag carriers of Colombia and El Salvador respectively, when Avianca and TACA became wholly owned subsidiaries of Avianca Holdings. TACA's shareholders were given 29% and Avianca's shareholders were given 71% of the shares in the new company.[1][2][3]
The company was previously listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Colombia Stock Exchange as Avianca Holdings. Since its inception, the Avianca Group has expanded its portfolio of operations and brands with the acquisition of the Mexican AeroUnion in 2014. The Group also owns the Avianca Express brand and the rewards program LifeMiles.
Operations
The company is the second largest airline holding in Latin America by revenue and fleet size after LATAM Airlines Group based in Santiago, Chile. With a fleet of 173 aircraft and more than 19,000 employees, Avianca serves over 100 destinations in America and Europe, which connect to over 750 destinations worldwide through codeshare agreements with partner airlines. Avianca carried 24.6 million passengers in 2013.[4]
Subsidiaries
Current
- Avianca
- Helicol
- Avianca Express
- Avianca Services
- Deprisa
- LifeMiles
- Avianca Cargo (formerly Tampa Cargo)
- Avianca Cargo México (formerly AeroUnion)
- Avianca Costa Rica (formerly LACSA)
- Avianca Ecuador (formerly AeroGal)
- Avianca El Salvador (formerly TACA Airlines)
- Avianca Guatemala (formerly Aviateca)
- Avianca Honduras (formerly Isleña; dormant[5])
Former
- Aeroperlas[6]
- Avianca Perú (formerly TACA Perú)
- La Costeña
- SANSA
- Servicios Aeroportuarios Integrados[7]
Shareholding
Shareholding composition of Avianca Holding S.A. as of March 31, 2021:[8]
- BRW Aviation LLC – 51.53 %
- Kingsland Holdings Limited – 14.46 %
- United Airlines – less than 1%
- Avianca Holdings S.A – 15.64 %
- Several pension funds plus numerous individual investors, mostly Colombian and others – 17.37%
Corporate affairs
The key trends for the Avianca Group are (as of the financial year ending December 31):[9]
| Total revenue (US$ m) |
Net profit[a] (US$ m)[10] |
Number of employees (FTE) |
Number of passengers (m)[b] |
Passenger load factor (%) |
Total aircraft |
References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 3,794 | 99 | 17,360 | 20.4 | 79.6 | [11] | |
| 2012 | 4,269 | 38 | 18,071 | 23.0 | 79.6 | 147 | [12] |
| 2013 | 4,609 | 248 | 19,153 | 24.6 | 80.5 | 171 | [11] |
| 2014 | 4,703 | 128 | 19,961 | 26.2 | 79.4 | 193 | [13][14] |
| 2015 | 4,361 | −139 | 20,485 | 28.2 | 79.7 | 193 | [13] |
| 2016 | 4,138 | 44.2 | 20,449 | 29.4 | 81.1 | 191 | [15] |
| 2017 | 4,441 | 82.0 | 18,641 | 30.5 | 81.7 | 187 | [16] |
| 2018 | 4,890 | 1.1 | 18,338 | 30.6 | 83.0 | 191 | [17] |
| 2019 | 4,621 | −894 | 16,707 | 30.5 | 81.7 | 196 | [18] |
| 2020 | 1,711 | −1,094 | 14,568 | 7.9 | 74.1 | 171 | [19] |
| 2021 | 336 | −15.1 | 150 | [20] | |||
| 2022 | 4,047 | −322 | 24.6 | 140 | [20][21] | ||
| 2023 | 4,771 | 131 | 158 | [22] | |||
| 2024 | 5,274 | 122 | 177 | [23] |
Paradise Papers
On November 5, 2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that the company's former Chairman Germán Efromovich was linked to an offshore conglomerate used for the aero-commercial holding business with ramifications in Bermuda, Panama and Cyprus. Efromovich used a Panamanian offshore that hid more than 20 firms located in tax havens. The conglomerate was used by Avianca Holdings in the purchase of MacAir Jet, now Avianca Argentina, an aircraft company owned by Macri Group, for an amount of US$10 million. Allowing Avianca to make headway in the low-cost carrier business in Argentina. The Argentine government accepted these offshores as a financial guarantee to assign air routes to Avianca which is now being investigated by the Argentine federal justice system.[24]
Bankruptcy
On May 10, 2020, Avianca filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States after failing to pay bondholders, becoming one of the major airlines to file for bankruptcy due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.[25][26][27]
In November 2020, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved its $2 billion refinancing plan.[28][29]
In November 2021, Avianca Holdings announced they would move their legal address from Panama to the United Kingdom, and that they would change their name to Avianca Group.[30] On December 1, 2021, Avianca emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in its history.[31]
Fleet
As of March 2026[update], the fleet of the Avianca Group consists of the following aircraft:[citation needed]
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | W | Y+ | Y | Total | ||||
| Airbus A319-100 | 8 | — | – | 12 | 48 | 84 | 144 | Originally scheduled to be retired by 2024.[32][needs update] |
| Airbus A320-200 | 79 | — | – | 12 | 60 | 108 | 180 | |
| Airbus A320neo | 50 | 88[33][34] | ||||||
| Airbus A330-900 | — | 2[35] | TBA | To be inherited from Azul Brazilian Airlines.[35] | ||||
| Boeing 787-8 | 13 | — | 20 | – | 36 | 235 | 291 | |
| 3 | 32 | – | 259 | Former Norwegian Long Haul aircraft.[36] | ||||
| Cargo fleet | ||||||||
| Airbus A330-200F | 6 | — | Cargo | |||||
| Airbus A330-200P2F | 1 | 1[37] | ||||||
| Airbus A330-300P2F | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Total | 162 | 93 | ||||||