Avianca is continuing the process of restoring business class on more routes, further backtracking on a decision the carrier made back in 2022. As of late 2024, the airline will substantially increase the number of routes in the Americas with a premium cabin.
In this post:
Avianca eliminated business class on most routes
For some background, in the past few years, Avianca has nicely transformed its business, by becoming a more efficient airline. As part of this, the airline eliminated business class on flights within the Americas as of October 2022.
Not only did Avianca reconfigure its Airbus A320s to remove business class and add 20% more seats, but the airline also stopped selling business class on flights within the Americas that were operated by Boeing 787s. Instead, these premium cabins were just sold as seats with more space, but without additional service.
With this policy change, Avianca only maintained business class on transatlantic flights to Europe. I thought from the beginning that this was the wrong move. The airline started reversing course on this in August 2023, by restoring business class on some routes. The airline has progressively been ramping up business class in the Americas, and now plans to restore this on even more routes.
Avianca restores business class within the Americas
The first step of this reversal took place last year. As of August 2023, Avianca restored business class on the following routes within the Americas, when operated by a Boeing 787:
- Bogota (BOG) to Buenos Aires (EZE)
- Bogota (BOG) to Miami (MIA)
- Bogota (BOG) to Sao Paulo (GRU)
- San Salvador (SAL) to Miami (MIA)
So a given route may have some frequencies with business class, and other frequencies without it. For example, Avianca flies a mix of Airbus A320s and Boeing 787s to Miami, so the latter flights do have business class, while the former flights don’t.
Then as of July 2024, Avianca restored business class on select routes operated by the Airbus A320. Specifically, this applied to routes that are at least five hours in length:
- Business class is offered on A320s operated from Bogota (BOG) to Boston (BOS), Buenos Aires (EZE), Mexico City (MEX), Miami (MIA), Montevideo (MVD), New York (JFK), Rio de Janeiro (GIG), Santiago (SCL), Sao Paulo (GRU), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington (IAD)
- There are three rows of business class seats, and this is an intra-Europe style business class product, with economy style seats that have blocked middles
- In terms of amenities, the business class experience includes a meal, complimentary drinks, blankets, pillows, and amenity kits
Now as of December 2024, Avianca will restore business class on more routes operated by the Airbus A320. As of then, we’ll see business class additionally offered on the following routes:
- Business class will be offered on flights between Bogota (BOG) and Asuncion (ASU), Buenos Aires (AEP), Chicago (ORD), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Georgetown (GEO), Lima (LIM), Montreal (YUL), Orlando (MCO), and Panama City (PTY)
- Business class will be offered on flights between Medellin (MDE) and Buenos Aires (EZE), Lima (LIM), New York (JFK), Santiago (SCL), and Sao Paulo (GRU)
- Business class will be offered on flights between San Salvator (SAL) and Bogota (BOG), Lima (LIM), Los Angeles (LAX), Medellin (MDE), Mexico City (MEX), New York (JFK), Panama City (PTY), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington (IAD)
This is a sensible policy change
I can see where Avianca’s policy change came from back in 2022, when the airline decided to just eliminate business class altogether within the Americas. The airline wanted to become more efficient and streamline its offerings. Since business class was being eliminated on narrow body planes, the airline decided it was most efficient to just not sell the product on wide body frequencies either.
However, from the beginning I personally didn’t think that made much sense, and I’m happy to see this reversal. The reality is that the demand for premium air travel has continued to grow, and I think Avianca was also losing a lot of transatlantic business class traffic to other airlines due to not offering business class on connecting flights.
The airline found a happy middle ground here, it seems. A320s are configured much more efficiently than in the past, but by having a business class product, Avianca can now compete better with premium travelers.
Bottom line
In 2022, Avianca stopped selling business class on flights within the Americas, as the airline tried to streamline its business model, in an effort to return to profitability.
The airline has slowly been reversing course on this decision. In August 2023, Avianca restored business class on wide body flights within the Americas, and now Avianca is continuing to add back business class on more narrow body flights within the Americas. This started with select flights from Bogota blocked at over five hours, but as of December 2024, the number of routes will be expanded considerably.
I’m happy to see this change, as it should make Avianca more competitive in many markets.
What do you make of Avianca restoring business class on more routes?
Not all B787 offer flat bed seats. They have acquired 3 ex- Norwegian aircraft which are configurated with 28 premium economy seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. Those seats are sold as business class and are used for routes such as BOG-MIA, JFK, GRU, SCL, EZE.
I'm really not impressed with their operation at Bogota. Because they often opt for remote stands, there's a long bus ride to the gate, at which point you have to walk down a long hallway and clear security again before joining other international connecting passengers. (waste of time / resources) This, combined with the short connection times, means you barely have enough time to make your gate by boarding, (if they're ever on time) and...
I'm really not impressed with their operation at Bogota. Because they often opt for remote stands, there's a long bus ride to the gate, at which point you have to walk down a long hallway and clear security again before joining other international connecting passengers. (waste of time / resources) This, combined with the short connection times, means you barely have enough time to make your gate by boarding, (if they're ever on time) and the best lounge El Dorado charges $12 extra for amenities like food for Priority Pass members, while the Copa lounge closes at 21:30, and stops serving meals an hour before. Lastly, for those traveling in economy, everything is extra. They don't even include a cup of water on 4-6 hour flights, instead opting to sell small bottles for $4 each.
Avicana a320 business class seat looks comfy, especially with wide seats, but I hope they add more recline and a footrest.
If I'm not mistaken, AV already has been selling J into the Americas. I was looking at flights from the North East, and they are sold on all flights, A320 or 787. Not to mention, they consistently ask for over 2k round trip! J on the 320 is the seat shown in the post, whereas the 787 has a recliner style seat in 2-3-2.
Assuming that they put in the effort for the soft product, I look forward to flying with them as AV makes it super easy to get Star Alliance gold.
All of AV's 787s feature reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 config.
No. They still have some 787s with 2-2-2 config.
I flew one of them from BOG-MIA last month
The blocked middle seat option is what Avianca so far sold as ECO premium seat, is that right? These seats are mega comfy, even on longer flights such as BOG to Bolivian ports. Pricing as of end last year at least extremely moderate. Much much much better btw than the European blocked middle C configuration. Thinking of LH, which is garbage compared to Avianca.
Why does LM keep sending me to Economy Hell when looking for "J" seats? Is there a secret to finding J seats?
That A320 middle “seat” looks like a commode for a child. Or a Japanese toilet.
Unpopular opinion: Among the "recliner" style first class seats, I find Avianca "Premium" seats / hard product to be really comfortable . The seat cushion width is amazing! As you essentially get ~1.5 economy seats, I found it easy to sit cross-legged in the seat! And the "middle seat" has power, and a little "table" to work.
I recently flew GRU-BOG on the 787 in biz and was very impressed with the service and catering.
I am a little confused with the press pic of the A320 business class seats in the article. It looks like a 'euro business' set up in terms of just the middle seat of an economy row blocked. However on closer inspection the table set up does not look like it would be a quick adaption from...
I recently flew GRU-BOG on the 787 in biz and was very impressed with the service and catering.
I am a little confused with the press pic of the A320 business class seats in the article. It looks like a 'euro business' set up in terms of just the middle seat of an economy row blocked. However on closer inspection the table set up does not look like it would be a quick adaption from an economy row to a business row. I have seen european airlines (eg BA) that have the table that can attach to the blocked middle seat quite easily but the one in the article picture looks as if it is fixed.
Has Avianca confirmed whether the size of the business cabin will vary sector to sector based on demand or are they permanently blocking out a set number of economy rows and transforming them into 'business',
You're not mistaken. The table is fixed to the seat. You'll notice that there are not 3 separate cushions for each seat or one long one for 3 seats, but instead 2 separate cushion, one for each seat, that stop at the table. The 2 seats are also quite a bit wider than the normal economy seats as you can see with the 2 seats (window and aisle) on the sides and the 1 in the middle (where the table is).
Thanks Aaron. :-)
It's a start, but Avianca has a long way to go to be competitive with Copa. And, this isn't Europe so people here aren't ok with having the same tight-pitch economy seat but with a blocked middle. That's garbage and we all know it (even Euros, who are too proud to admit it). The demo that pops for business class on these mid-length flights isn't going to be satisfied with this. Meanwhile, Copa has lie-flat...
It's a start, but Avianca has a long way to go to be competitive with Copa. And, this isn't Europe so people here aren't ok with having the same tight-pitch economy seat but with a blocked middle. That's garbage and we all know it (even Euros, who are too proud to admit it). The demo that pops for business class on these mid-length flights isn't going to be satisfied with this. Meanwhile, Copa has lie-flat business class seats on their new 737MAX aircraft, which easily blow the Eurobusiness seats away.
It's a shame how far the former TACA has fallen since the acquisition by Avianca.
It’s still not an adequate solution in my opinion. They are on par with LATAM in hard product (blocked middle seat), but are still behind Copa and US3 who have proper business class seats to/from Colombia and El Salvador.
I just flew Avianca from La Paz to Bogata. It’s not a long flight, but we did pay for the extra legroom. It is bare bones - I did not expect to have to pay for drinking water. A bit of service will likely be be appreciated by certain flyers, esp on the longer routes.
Hi Ben,
I enjoyed reading your article! I was curious—have you had the chance to fly in the A320 business class seats you featured in the picture?
While you noted that these seats are similar to European Business Class (economy seats with a blocked middle), I found them noticeably more comfortable. Unlike European business class, these seats don’t have that space between the seats, making them feel more spacious. I experienced them on a couple...
Hi Ben,
I enjoyed reading your article! I was curious—have you had the chance to fly in the A320 business class seats you featured in the picture?
While you noted that these seats are similar to European Business Class (economy seats with a blocked middle), I found them noticeably more comfortable. Unlike European business class, these seats don’t have that space between the seats, making them feel more spacious. I experienced them on a couple of domestic flights in Colombia, and the added comfort really stood out.
I couldn't agree with you more; they have much more space with that weird thing in the middle but allow you to stretch your legs more due to the curvature. Actually, it is a well-thought-out seat.