Viva Air Colombia will open its third operational base in Santa Marta beginning in October 2018, with two based aircraft initially. The new hub will provide connections to destinations such as San Andrés, Bucaramanga, Pereira and Cartago.

The airline hopes to transport more than 1.1 million passengers in the first year on routes to and from Santa Marta and generate market growth of over 30%, according to Felix Antelo, CEO of Viva Air.

Viva Air chose Santa Marta as its third base as the city has about 500,000 residents and in 2017 reached more than 70,000 tourists of which 57% are foreigners.