Avianca Cargo

When a windowless A330 in Avianca red taxis onto the cargo apron in Miami, there is a good chance it smells of roses. Avianca Cargo is the cargo airline of Colombia’s Avianca group – and one of the most important flower airlines in the world. Behind the modern name is a company with over 50 years of history: Tampa Cargo from Medellín, with DC-6s, Boeing 707s, DC-8s and Boeing 767s. This page shows you how to recognize Avianca Cargo today and how to place old photos correctly.

Avianca Cargo at a glance

Avianca Cargo is a Colombian all-cargo airline headquartered in Medellín. It belongs to the Avianca group, whose passenger airline Avianca is among the oldest airlines in the world and a member of Star Alliance. Since 2022 the Avianca group has been part of the Abra Group, which also includes Brazil’s GOL.

The business has two pillars: first, Avianca Cargo operates its own freighters, today exclusively of the Airbus A330 type. Second, the airline markets the cargo holds in the belly of Avianca’s passenger aircraft. By its own account, this gives it access to more than 350 destinations. The own freighters, by contrast, fly a much smaller network, mainly between South and Central America and the USA.

The most important hubs are Bogotá, Medellín-Rionegro and Miami. Miami is the most important market: this is where most of the flowers from Colombia and Ecuador land before being distributed by truck across the US.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code QT: appears in the flight number and on cargo documents.
• ICAO code TPA: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign TAMPA: this is how the crew checks in on the radio.

Code and callsign reveal the origin: TPA and TAMPA date from the time when the airline was still called Tampa Cargo. The name, incidentally, has nothing to do with the city in Florida – Tampa was an abbreviation for Transportes Aéreos Mercantiles Panamericanos.

From Tampa to Avianca Cargo: the history

The story begins in 1973 in Medellín. Tampa started with a single Douglas DC-6 between Medellín and Bogotá. In the late 1970s, Boeing 707-320Cs were added, convertible versions of the first big Boeing jet with a large cargo door – you’ll find more on the type in the article on the Boeing 707. Later, Douglas DC-8 freighters took over the long-haul route to Miami.

A chapter in the 1990s is exciting for European spotters: in 1996 the Dutch Martinair took a 40 percent stake in Tampa and raised its share to 58 percent in 2003. During this time, from 2004, the switch to Boeing 767-200s that had been converted into freighters began. In 2008 Avianca took over the airline completely; from 2010, Tampa thus belonged to the new holding AviancaTaca.

With the order for four Airbus A330-200Fs in 2011, Tampa became the first A330F operator in Latin America. In the same year a single Boeing 767-300F joined the fleet. In 2013 the name change followed: since then the airline has flown as Avianca Cargo.

Period	Type	Role
1973–1980s	Douglas DC-6	First aircraft, domestic service
1979–1999	Boeing 707-320C	First jet freighters
from 1988	Douglas DC-8 freighters	Long-haul, including to Miami
2004–2014	Boeing 767-200 (conversion freighters)	Replacing the DC-8
2011–2015	Boeing 767-300F	One-off alongside the first A330Fs
since the 2010s	Airbus A330-200F	Backbone of today’s fleet
since 2025	Airbus A330P2F	Converted passenger jets as a supplement

The exact years of service of the older types vary by a year or two depending on the source. For your archive, assigning them to the era is usually enough: DC-8 and 707 for the early Tampa period, 767 for the transition years, A330 for Avianca Cargo.

The fleet: A330 instead of 767

Today Avianca Cargo’s freighter fleet consists only of the Airbus A330. The core is six factory-built A330-200Fs. They are supplemented by converted passenger aircraft, so-called A330P2Fs. The conversions are the responsibility of the Airbus-affiliated Elbe Flugzeugwerke from Dresden and its partners; one such freighter, converted at ST Engineering in Singapore, joined Avianca Cargo in fall 2025. Further conversions were delayed; Avianca cited a lack of personnel and planning problems at the conversion facility.

Type	Number (as of 2025)	Origin	Spotter note
Airbus A330-200F	6	factory-built freighter	Bulge under the nose, no window remnants
Airbus A330P2F	1, more being delivered	converted passenger jets	No nose bulge, traces of the old windows
Airbus A330-300P2F (Avianca Cargo México)	2	converted passenger jets	Longer fuselage, ICAO code TNO

You’ll look for the Boeing 767 at Avianca Cargo in vain. The converted 767-200s and the single Boeing 767-300F have been retired since the mid-2010s, and the Mexican sister also gave up its 767-200 freighters in 2024. If you see a 767 with cargo from Colombia today, you’re more likely looking at another airline – such as LAS Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas or the competing LATAM Cargo, whose freighter subsidiary is also based in Bogotá.

A330-200F or A330P2F? How to tell them apart

At first glance both look the same: windowless fuselage, large cargo door on the left side ahead of the wing, two engines. But a few details reveal whether the freighter came that way from the factory or is a converted passenger jet.

The reason for the bulge: on the A330-200F, Airbus changed the nose gear so that the fuselage sits level on the ground and cargo pallets can be loaded more easily. The extra fairing for this is easy to see from the side – even on approach with a telephoto lens. If you want to reliably separate the A330 from the four-engine A340 in general, the guide A330 or A340? helps. The manufacturer of both variants is Airbus.

How to recognize Avianca Cargo

The freighters wear the red Avianca brand identity with cargo titles. Together with the windowless A330 fuselage, that is quickly unambiguous on the cargo apron. You need to be careful mainly when assigning the company: Avianca Cargo México appears under the same brand, but belongs to a different flight operation with its own ICAO code. Conversely, Avianca’s passenger aircraft wear the same color – there the row of windows and the passenger doors are the distinguishing features.

How to read registrations in general and assign country prefixes is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations. You’ll find general tips for identifying freighters even without livery under Recognizing cargo aircraft.

Flowers as the core business

Colombia is the world’s second-largest flower exporter after the Netherlands and exports cut flowers worth billions of US dollars every year. On top of that come the roses from Ecuador. Flowers are delicate and must reach their destination chilled and fast – a business made for air cargo. Avianca Cargo explicitly calls flowers its most important product and states that in 2025 it flew more than 100,000 tons of roses, carnations and orchids from Colombia and Ecuador to the US, Europe and Asia.

For spotters this means: cargo traffic from Colombia follows the flower calendar. Before Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day the volumes rise sharply, and airlines then deploy additional freighters. If you want to catch Avianca freighters, but also competitors like LATAM Cargo, Aerosucre or Amerijet in Miami, you have the best cards in these weeks. To get the flowers there in good condition, Avianca Cargo also invests on the ground – for example in the cold storage in Miami and in a new flower hall in Medellín.

Miami: the most important destination

At Miami Airport the threads come together. Miami is the hub for cargo traffic between Latin America and the USA, and Avianca Cargo operates its own warehouse for perishable goods there. The A330 freighters stand on the airport’s cargo aprons, often next to other Latin America freighters like MasAir. Where to stand well in Miami and which runways are used when is shown in the guide Plane spotting in Miami.

Avianca Cargo in Europe

Avianca Cargo only flies to Europe occasionally with its own freighters, and the destinations have changed several times. What they have in common is the focus on the Netherlands, where the European flower trade converges. A regular direct connection to Amsterdam-Schiphol does not exist according to the available sources.

• Brussels (from 2018): In November 2018, an Avianca Cargo A330-200F landed at Brussels Airport for the first time. The connection was meant to link the flowers from Latin America to the Dutch flower market. Whether it still exists today, you should check before a trip.
• Maastricht-Aachen (since October 2025): An A330F serves Maastricht-Aachen Airport twice a week. Northbound it mainly carries flowers from Quito via Miami, southbound it returns via Zaragoza with European cargo.
• Liège with a partner: From November 2024, Turkish Cargo and Avianca Cargo jointly offered cargo capacity between Liège and Miami. Which airline operates the flights there with which type, you should check on the tracker beforehand – not every flight of this partnership is automatically an Avianca freighter.

For spotters from Germany, Maastricht-Aachen is therefore the most realistic place to see an Avianca A330F in Europe. Because there are only a few rotations per week, a look at the tracker before you set off is worthwhile. For Brussels, the guide Plane spotting in Brussels helps.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Tampa for the city in Florida – Tampa was a Colombian abbreviation; today the name only survives in the callsign.
• Taking every Avianca A330 for a freighter – Avianca also flies passenger jets; the row of windows decides.
• Equating Avianca Cargo México with Avianca Cargo – the Mexican sister flies under ICAO TNO.
• Noting an A330P2F as an A330-200F – without a bulge under the nose it is a conversion freighter.
• Automatically assigning a 767 with Colombian cargo to Avianca – the 767 is history at Avianca Cargo.
• Counting every flight of the Turkish Cargo partnership in Liège as an Avianca sighting – what matters is who actually operates the aircraft.

Conclusion

Avianca Cargo is an airline with two faces: today a modern A330 freighter fleet in Avianca red, formerly Tampa Cargo with DC-8s and Boeing 767s. If you know the ICAO code TPA, can interpret the bulge under the nose of the A330-200F and assign old photos to the right era, you log these freighters cleanly. Your best chances are in Miami; in Europe an Avianca freighter is a real rarity.