On Tuesday, the Canadian carrier Air Transat announced it had added Viva (an airline with branches in Colombia and Perú) as its new partner for virtual interlining service. Now, several Colombian destinations will be accessible for Air Transat travelers flying between Toronto International Airport (YYZ) and Cartagena International Airport (CTG).

Viva is Air Transat’s latest partner

Today, Air Transat announced it is enhancing its exclusive virtual interlining service. The Montreal-based airline has added Viva Air to its 'connectair by Air Transat' platform. Air Transat launched this platform late last year, which allows travelers to combine flights from the Canadian airline and its partners.

As of October 2022, Air Transat has ten partners and around 130 destinations offered on this platform. Besides Viva, other partners are Aegean Airlines, Air North, Avianca, Azores Airlines, easyJet, Loganair, Pascan, Sky Express, and Vueling.

A Viva aircraft
Viva has become the tenth partner of Air Transat's virtual interlining service. Photo: Getty Images.

With the addition of Viva Colombia, Air Transat passengers can now fly to the Colombian destinations of Cali (CLO), Medellín (MDE), Bogotá (BOG), Cúcuta (CUC), Pereira (PEI), Neiva (NVA), and Pasto (PSO). These destinations will now be easily accessible from Cartagena, said the carrier. Air Transat flies between Toronto and Cartagena.

How does Air Transat's virtual interlining service work?

Catherine Gladu-Robitaille, Air Transat’s Director of Network Planning, explained what is connectair by Air Transat in a short YouTube video. She said,

“It’s a virtual platform that links our Air Transat flights to our partners’ flights. We’re thrilled because we are the first airline in North America to come up with this product. At the moment, we are offering flights to 130 more destinations than before, and that’s a really exciting addition to Transat’s roster. It is great for our customers because it gives them a lot more choices. It also gives them peace of mind when they book a flight because they know they are not going to miss their connection. We offer connection insurance, so they know they won’t miss their next flight.”

Meanwhile, Michèle Barre, Vice-President, Network, Revenue Management, and Pricing at Air Transat, added that the company’s objective with connectair is to offer an ever-wider range of destinations to the customers and grow the network.

Finally, Pablo Madriñan, CCO of the Viva Group, added that through this service, the South American ultra-low-cost carrier is further expanding its opportunities to connect its passengers between South America and Canada with a single transaction. “Therefore, we are providing them with more international travel options. We will continue to maintain our characteristic low prices on the routes operated directly by Viva.”

Two Avianca aircraft
Avianca is already a partner of Air Transat's service. Photo: Getty Images.

The Viva and Avianca partnership

It is interesting to see the announcement of this partnership because it shows that, to some extent, Viva and Avianca are already working as a team. Both carriers are seeking approval from Colombian authorities to merge under the same holding but keeping their identities and brands separated.

While the merger has not been approved yet, and Viva and Avianca have stated they operate as rival companies, there are some hints that, at some level, they are already partnering up. The addition of Viva to Air Transat’s interline service (of which Avianca is already a member) is proof of that.

What do you think about Air Transat’s latest partner? Let us know in the comments below.