If you are looking for cheap flights to Bogota, Colombia, Spirit Airlines might be your answer. Since 2008, Spirit Airlines has been offering affordable flights to Bogota.
Colombia’s tourism and business industries have been booming. Spirit now functions as a vehicle for this increase of growth. They help shuttle travelers to Colombia from the United States.
This article will give you a closer look at Spirit’s U.S – Bogota flight options. You’ll discover Spirit’s impact on the country and where in the U.S you can find Spirit flights to Bogota.
Spirit Airlines History in Colombia and Its Impact
Spirit Airlines has been flying to Colombia since 2008. Their goal is to be the largest American ultra low cost carrier operating in the country.
Spirit first offered flights to Bogota and Cartagena. They have since added more Colombian cities like Armenia, Barranquilla, Cali, Medellin and Bucaramanga.
Growing demand for Latin America travel
Travel demand for Latin American destinations have been increasing at a high rate. Growing at an average of 4.8%, by 2028 the region expects to see 81.6 million outside tourists and travelers.
Bogota, Colombia is leading the charge of the surge.
Tourism
A major factor in the travel demand boom for Colombia is the government’s tourism commitment.
President Gustavo Petro has been spearheading tourism by campaigning Colombia as the “country of beauty”.
Colombia is home to beautiful landscapes, cultures, and has a solid book of history.
With a little bit of promotion can make any place in the world a solid attraction for tourism.
With the commitment to tourism, comes infrastructure improvements. Being able to make flying easier and more accessible will help get that extra travel demand.
Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport has increased the number of gates. This will help double the passenger capacity the airport can handle at one given time.
Bogota is Colombia’s Business Capital
In addition to increased tourism, Bogota has emerged as Colombia’s business capital. The country’s political landscape has changed making it more attractive for business relationships.
Bogota is home to many universities and companies from a vast array of sectors like software, consumer products, and communications.
With improvement with travel infrastructure, business travel to the region has only increased.
While Spirit Airlines is an ultra low cost carrier that doesn’t have a business class, it still benefits from the region’s business travel demand.
There are only so many American air carriers that have direct flights to Bogota. Once flights on airlines with business classes get booked, passengers traveling on business are left with Spirit Airlines.
Also, not all business flyers need an elevated level of service flying in a business class. Those looking to save the company a few bucks and can stand a few hours of less comfort will likely flock to Spirit Airlines.
Visiting Friends, Family, and Relatives
Spirit Airlines flies to Bogota, Colombia from Florida only. Florida is home to one of the largest Colombian populations in the world outside of Colombia.
The New York City area has the most Colombians living in the United States. Miami has the second largest with over 272,000 residents of Colombia descent. Orlando is the next largest with over 82,000 Colombian Americans as well.
Spirit Airlines offers flights from both the Miami and Orlando areas of Florida.
Spirit Airlines functions as an option for people to get back to their homelands or to their loved ones.
What Airport in Bogota does Spirit Fly To?
Spirit Airlines uses Bogato’s El Dorado International Airport for its flight offerings.
El Dorado International Airport
El Dorado International Airport is the second busiest airport in South America. It is also the third busiest airport in Latin America when looking at 2023 passenger counts. In 2023 alone, the airport saw over 303,000 aircraft movements and close to 40 million passengers.
Spirit Airlines uses terminal 1 at El Dorado International Airport. Terminal 1 is the largest out of the two terminals at the airport. It’s shaped like a sideways letter “H”. It features 32 gates and handles the airport’s international flights.
Where in the U.S Does Spirit Offer Flights to Bogota, Colombia?
As of November 2024, Spirit Airlines only flies to Bogota from two cities in Florida. This makes sense since Florida has a large concentration of Columbian Americans.
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando are the two cities Spirit Airlines offers direct flight to Colombia from.
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale is Spirit’s primary hub. From Fort Lauderdale International Airport, you can find one daily flight to Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport.
If you live outside of Florida and are looking to fly with Spirit to Colombia, chances are that you’ll be connecting through Fort Lauderdale.
Since Fort Lauderdale is a major city for Spirit, they have connections that span the entire United States. Only the Southwestern part of the country in areas like Los Angeles or Phoenix don’t have flights to Fort Lauderdale.
Orlando
Orlando International Airport is home to Spirit’s other direct flight option to Bogota, Colombia. The airline offers daily flights to Colombia only several times per week, unlike Fort Lauderdale.
This is likely due to Orlando not having as large of a demand for flights to Colombia than Fort Lauderdale, who represents the entire Miami Area.
Orlando is another accessible option for a connecting flight to Bogota. However it does have fewer connection options compared to Spirit’s Fort Lauderdale. But, Orlando does have connecting flights to Los Angeles. That gives Southwestern customers a chance to connect to Orlando for a nonstop flight to Colombia.
Also, Orlando serves as a great alternative option to Fort Lauderdale during the busy season. If you can’t grab a direct flight from Fort Lauderdale, Orlando is only a short connecting flight away.
Opportunities for Further Route Expansion
If Spirit Airlines were able to get past its financial troubles, it may look to expand its routes to Colombia beyond Florida.
Currently, Spirit Airlines flights are concentrated to the Florida panhandle. The airline offers flights from Fort Myers, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando.
Spirit Chief Commercial Officer Matt Klein confirmed during an interview with TheStreet that the airline plans to expand its connection cities beyond Florida to cities throughout the United States.
While it seems unlikely that Bogota will immediately benefit from the suggested expansion, with the country’s increasing popularity it would make sense for the airline to at least consider offering more routes from different cities throughout the United States.
Spirit’s Competitors to Flights to Between Colombia and The U.S
Spirit Airlines has four competitors offering flights between Colombia and the United States. Two can be considered a direct competition as the others don’t fly to the same exact airports that Spirit uses.
Spirit Airlines has a pretty solid foothold on Florida’s Colombian American market share. But, they are missing out on capitalizing on the majority of the U.S demand for travel to Colombia by being hyper focused on Florida.
Avianca
Avianca is Spirit’s primary competitor on flights between the U.S and Bogota. Avianca is the primary tenet at El Dorado International Airport. It is also Colombia’s largest airline.
There is direct competition between Avianca and Spirit on flights between Miami and Orlando. Avianca likely dominates Florida bound traffic while Spirit takes up the bulk of Colombia bound passengers.
Yet, where Spirit truly begins to suffer is Avianca’s number of daily offerings, number of Floridia destinations, and its service beyond Florida.
Avianca offers flights multiple times per day unlike Spirit who flies once or twice per day.
In addition to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Avianca flies to Miami International Airport which Spirit does not.
Beyond Florida, Avianca flies to Chicago, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C.
Looking at New York alone, that serves a rather large chunk of the Colombian American population that Spirit Airlines cannot serve.
One “ace in the hole” that Spirit has is that both these airlines operate on different business models. Spirit as an ultra low cost carrier can charge much cheaper ticket prices than Avianca, which can naturally pull demand away from the latter.
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines is also a challenger to Spirit’s influence in the Southeastern portion of the United States. While they don’t offer flights from Florida like Spirit, Delta does provide daily flights from Atlanta.
Delta also offered direct flights from New York City to Bogota, however those were canceled on October 27th, 2024. The airline cited lack of customer demand being the main cause.
LATAM Colombia
LATAM Colombia is the other direct competitor to Spirit’s Florida – Bogota flight offering. LATAM Colombia is the second largest airline in Colombia after Avianca.
The airline offers multiple daily flights to both Orlando and Miami. They do not utilize Fort Lauderdale unlike Spirit.
In a similar situation to Avianca, LATAM Colombia likely captures the majority of the U.S bound demand from Colombia. LATAM Colombia and Avianca are jockeying to capture that market share while Spirit is left behind to pick up the scraps.
United Airlines
United Airlines is the outlier in the race, however they cannot be ignored. The airline doesn’t challenge Spirit Airlines on any of its Florida – Bogota routes.
But United does have a presence at El Dorado International Airport. It has flights from Houston, Texas and Newark, New Jersey.
Our Final Thoughts About Spirit’s USA-Bogota Flights
Spirit Airlines’ USA to Bogota flights has a lot of room for opportunity.
Colombia is an up and coming Latin American tourist destination and business center. There is a quite significant, and proud Colombian American population living here in the states.
However, the recent headwinds Spirit has been facing leaves a lot to be desired.
Spirit routes to Bogota, Colombia are consolidated to just Florida. That leaves a great market share left untapped especially in the New York region of the country. With the airline in financial turmoil, it will be hard pressed to see if they expand the route to other places in the U.S.
As an ultra low cost carrier, the only foothold that Spirit has making it a relatively good choice amongst other options is its price.
With no other American ultra low cost carriers leaving a mark at El Dorado International Airport, Spirit will likely continue to squeeze some juice from the Avianca and LATAM Colombia.
Like what we always say with ULCC, they are there to get you from A to Z safely and as cheaply as possible. If you are willing to sacrifice comfort for a lower price, Spirit Airlines and their offerings to Bogota Colombia will work very well for you.
Source
https://colombiaone.com/2024/07/09/colombia-tourism-growth
https://latamfdi.com/economy-of-bogota/
https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/what-city-in-the-us-has-the-most-colombians/
https://www.thestreet.com/travel/is-spirit-airlines-moving-away-from-florida
https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-from-bogot%C3%A1-bog
