Cal-copa To Buy Avianca

[Rob]

Great news for CAL, assuming the bankruptcy court clears everything. With the Columbian pilots union supportive, this should be a very interesting deal.

I could have posted a link, but there are several versions of the story available at the usual sources.

 

[JFK777]

Copa-Avianca would consolidate power in northwest south america like Lan chile and Taca have done. It give Bavaria(Santo Domingo) a way out of having to fund loses. Everyone gets a better situation.

Avianca would modernize the fleet with Boeing 737NG's and build upon the Copa- Cal partnership. Avianca could provide Copa with flights to Europe since Copa doesn't fly there; Avianca now only flies to Madrid but could fly again to Paris, Fra and London. Avianca also has Rolls powered 757, like Cal, which could be swapped with some of Copa 737-700 for better fleet utilization. Copa flies from Panama to Buenos Aires, Santiago Sap Paulo, a 757 could provide a more efficient resource for longer routes. The synergy id endless.

 

[farfallah]

Any guess as to what this would mean for travelers on CAL? Code shares on Avianca flights? Connecting CAL flights for Avianca routes from MIA and FLL? Seems to me that Avianca already has code shares with Delta.

 

[JFK777]

Cal has the second largest route system to Latin Ameica after AA. They fly to Bogota from IAH and EWR. DAL flies to Bog from ATL only. Copa( from Panama) only flies to Miami, Orlando and Los Angeles, not Newark or Houston. Avianca and CAL would complement each others service very well since Avianca is big into Miami.

The Colombian governmrnt needs to quick protecting Avianca and let AA fly to Barranquilla(again) and Cartagena. My grandfather died and I'm going to have to fly Avianca to Barranquilla in May, last time I went in 2000 I flew AA to BAQ. In my lifetime(since 1967) a US airline has flown to BAQ most of the time. Pan Am until 1976 then Eastern and AA from 1983 until 2002. Its dark in BAQ when no stars & stripes fly there. Avianca is my Aeroflot.

 

[Rob]

When CAL acquired their 49% interest in Copa, they backed Copa's acquisition of new common aircraft and the use of common management and information systems. Copa is now quite profitable, guesstimated by me in the $30-50 million a year range based on CAL's reported equity in the earnings of affiliates.

I assume Avianca will see a similar management approach if Copa succeeds in acquiring them and maybe similar financial success in a couple years.

 

[JFK777]

Avianca would be insane not to use the CAL IT infrastructure. Avianca must be using 1970 era computers.