In 2024, the (ultra) low-cost carrier JetSMART significantly expanded into Colombia, launching domestic operations in March. It is the latest ultra-LCC to try its luck in the Colombian market after the collapse of Viva Colombia and Ultra in 2023.

The airline—created by Indigo Partners, a private investment fund with over 20 years of experience developing ultra-LCCs worldwide—has requested to operate 111 routes in the country with a fleet of 12 aircraft by 2027. With the first summer season ended, we can now assess where the airline stands.

In March, the first three aircraft were based in Medellin which serves as the country’s foremost hub. The airline initially rolled out eight domestic routes, connecting key cities like Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, and Cali. This pushed up domestic capacity to a new record. By August, JetSMART had grown its fleet to seven aircraft, established another base in Bogota, and continued expanding its route network.

At the end of August, the airline had carried over a million departing passengers just six months after launching operations. The airline already transports nearly 300,000 passengers monthly, representing a 9% market share.

Although impressive in such a short time, it is still far from the 1.3 million and 860,000 monthly domestic passengers transported by Avianca and LATAM respectively. As can be seen below, Medellin is the airline's largest base, closely followed by Bogota. Cartagena and Santa Marta are the main tourism destinations while Cali, Cucuta, and San Andres were added to the network upon the fleet expansion in June.

JetSMART operated from eight airports by the end of August. In Medellin, the airline has offered flights since opening to Bogota, Cartagena, and Santa Marta. From June, routes to Cali, Cucuta, Pereira, and the island of San Andres were added.

Bogota has served the same four cities since the start of operations: Medellin, Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Pereira.

Cartagena and Santa Marta are the main tourist destinations in the country and are connected to the larger cities. San Andres, which was extensively served by Viva Colombia before its collapse, was only connected to Medellin with a single daily service this summer.

Cali was only added to the network in June and is now connected to Medellin and the tourism destinations of Cartagena and Santa Marta.

Further route development in the short term includes routes to Barranquilla and Monteria from Medellin in December.

The airline has helped to rebound the crashed domestic market which recorded a 13% decline in 2023 due to the loss of Viva Colombia and Ultra. However, with 26% more passengers carried by Avianca, 22% by Latam and the added 0.5 million passengers of JetSMART in July and August, the domestic market was back to its 2022 peak.

The entry of JetSMART into the domestic Colombian market comes when both Avianca and LATAM have also significantly expanded their capacity. With the ambitious growth plans from JetSMART, a continued strong growth trend is therefore expected in the short term.

Highly competitive airline offers are expected, driving up the number of passengers traveling by air domestically. This goes hand in hand with the economic development of the country, with a growing middle class making the target market continuously larger.

Even with a significantly larger capacity from Avianca and LATAM, JetSMART´s arrival has been very successful, and it is expected that the airline can achieve its goals and grow to at least the size of Viva Colombia and Ultra over the next few years. That’s very good news for the domestic air market in Colombia.