News / Turkish Airlines' Miami freighter hooks up with Avianca for LatAm access

Avianca and Turkish Airlines (THY) have strengthened their cargo alliance with a transatlantic freighter operation to link up their maindeck networks.

On 3 November, THY started flights with B777F from its Istanbul base via Liege to Miami, where it connects with Avianca’s Latin American network.

Part of the capacity on the THY flights across the Atlantic is allocated to Avianca, and in return the Turkish airline can sell the destinations in the Latin American carrier’s network to its customers, said Diogo Elias, SVP Avianca Cargo.

“We’ve interlined for the past couple of years very closely, but now we have a flight by design from both companies, flying Liege to Miami,” he added.

Avianca will use the THY flight primarily to sell European destinations to its customer base.

“Our focus in terms of air waybills is on Europe. We offer this as a freighter to Europe to our market,” Mr Elias said. “We have no freighters out of Europe.”

The airline has a fleet of A330 all-cargo aircraft, but these are deployed in the Americas, primarily funnelling traffic to and from Miami. Across the Atlantic, its capacity is on passenger flights to Madrid, Barcelona, London and Paris.

THY gains feed from Latin America, said Mr Elias. “We have a lot of capacity out of Chile for them,” adding the current cherry season was looking strong.

Initially the Liege-Miami freighter runs once a week, but this will probably increase, he said.

Avianca described the deal as a “significant milestone in the ongoing efforts to create synergies and explore opportunities for mutual growth”. The pair signed an MoU in April 2023 to collaborate on cargo.

Mr Elias said. “By combining our strengths, we aim to offer access to key markets, ensuring our clients an efficient air cargo solution.”

The joint freighter enters the market as transatlantic maindeck capacity to and from Latin America is down. In October, a number of carriers – including Air France KLM Martinair, Cargolux and Qatar Airways – reduced freighter flights to the region in response to elevated demand and yields out of Asia. In turn, this has strengthened load factors and yields on Latin American routes, explained Mr Elias.

Moreover, traffic into Latin America has surged in the second half of this year, as ecommerce shipments from Asia have been pouring into the region and has revived inbound traffic after two years of tepid demand.

So far, the season out of Asia has failed to produce a serious spike in rates, amid suggestions that importers brought in their inventory early to avoid disruptions. At what point will yields prompt those freighter operators that exited the Latin American market to return?