LATAM Airlines Colombia

If you stand at the fence in Bogotá, Medellín or Cartagena, besides the red Avianca jets you mainly see a second color: LATAM’s indigo blue. Behind it is usually LATAM Airlines Colombia, the Colombian subsidiary of the LATAM group. Its roots lie with a small regional airline called AIRES, which flew propeller aircraft out to the provinces. Here you’ll learn how AIRES became Colombia’s number two, which aircraft the airline flies today and how to reliably tell it apart from the other LATAM subsidiaries.

LATAM Airlines Colombia at a glance

LATAM Airlines Colombia is the Colombian airline of the LATAM Airlines Group and is headquartered in Bogotá. It is considered the country’s second-largest airline behind the long-established Avianca. Its focus is domestic traffic: from Bogotá-El Dorado it flies to the big cities such as Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Cartagena, but also to the Caribbean coast, the island of San Andrés and as far as Leticia in the Amazon region. In addition there are a few international destinations in the Caribbean and the Americas.

The parent, the LATAM Airlines Group, is headquartered in Chile and runs several national airlines. Besides the Chilean LATAM Airlines, these include LATAM Brasil, LATAM Peru, LATAM Ecuador and the cargo division LATAM Cargo. All passenger aircraft carry the same livery – which turns attribution into a bit of detective work for spotters.

From AIRES to LATAM: the history

Regional flyer in the Andes

On October 2, 1980, Aerovías de Integración Regional, AIRES for short, was founded in Colombia. Flight operations began in February 1981. The name said it all: the young airline wanted to connect regions that the big carriers barely served. In a country with three Andean ranges, lowlands and jungle, the airplane is often the only fast means of transport.

From the start, AIRES flew the Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante; from the late 1980s, Fairchild turboprops such as the F-27 and later the FH-227 were added. In 1994 the first Bombardier Dash 8s arrived. These Canadian turboprops shaped the airline for more than 15 years: AIRES operated the -100, -200 and -300 variants, later also a few Dash 8-400s. How to tell the Dash 8 variants and the ATR apart is explained in the article on telling turboprops apart.

In the late 1990s the company grew beyond the interior. In 1998 it opened a base in Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast. In December 2000, Barranquilla–Aruba followed as the first international route.

The leap to jets

In 2009, AIRES went through the biggest change in its history. It entered trunk routes, brought jets into the fleet and positioned itself as a low-cost alternative. The workhorse of this phase was the Boeing 737-700; a few examples came second-hand from European low-cost airlines.

This period also saw the worst accident in the company’s history. On August 16, 2010, AIRES Flight 8250, a Boeing 737-700, touched down short of the runway at San Andrés island at night in heavy rain and broke into three pieces. Two people died and many others were injured. The final report of the Colombian investigators named a final approach that was too low as the cause: the crew had misjudged its height over the dark, poorly lit surroundings. A lightning strike, initially suspected, played no decisive role.

LAN takes over

In October 2010, Chile’s LAN Airlines announced it would take over AIRES. The purchase of almost 99 percent of the shares was completed in November 2010. At the beginning of December 2011, the airline flew for the first time as LAN Colombia, in the parent’s colors and with its product. During the transition period, former AIRES aircraft carried a note “Operado por Aires” below the cockpit window.

After LAN and TAM merged to form the LATAM Airlines Group, the LAN name also disappeared in 2016. Since May 2016 the airline has been called LATAM Airlines Colombia. The turboprops had already been largely retired by then; the last Dash 8s left the fleet around 2015.

Codes, callsign and flight numbers

As with all LATAM subsidiaries, several abbreviations come together here:

• IATA code 4C: belongs to the Colombian company itself.
• ICAO code ARE: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers. It still recalls AIRES today.
• Group code LA: LATAM generally sells its subsidiaries’ flights under this code. A flight number with LA therefore doesn’t yet tell you which company actually flies the aircraft.

For spotters this is a typical trap: the departure board in Bogotá may show an LA number, but the tracker shows ARE – then LATAM Colombia is flying. How the system of airline codes works in general is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. You’ll find background on sold and operated flight numbers in the post Codeshare flights explained.

The fleet: all in on the A320

Today LATAM Colombia’s fleet is simply structured: it consists of aircraft of the Airbus A320 family, primarily the classic Airbus A320. The cabin is all-economy, as befits the short domestic and regional routes. Some older Airbus A319s were parked, according to fleet overviews.

You have to be careful with the exact number. The freely available overviews give very different figures for 2025 and 2026, from about a dozen to a good three dozen A320s. One possible reason: the LATAM group shifts aircraft between its subsidiaries, and not every aircraft that flies in Colombia is also registered there. For your sightings list, what counts is therefore the registration on the specific aircraft, not the total number. The manufacturer of today’s fleet is Airbus.

Type	Status	Use	Spotter tip
Airbus A320	active	Domestic, Caribbean, region	Backbone of the fleet
Airbus A319	parked or retired	formerly domestic	shorter fuselage, one overwing exit door
Boeing 737-700	historic (approx. 2009–2014)	AIRES trunk routes	AIRES jet of the transition period
Boeing 767-300ER	historic (2010s)	Long-haul	from the group pool
Dash 8 (-100 to -400)	historic (1994 to approx. 2015)	Regional routes	High-wing aircraft with two propellers
EMB 110 Bandeirante, F27/FH-227	historic	first years of AIRES	archive photos only today

How to reliably tell the A319 and A320 apart is shown in the article Telling the A318, A319, A320 and A321 apart. The quickest feature is the number of overwing exits: one door per side on the A319, two on the A320.

Historic types

For archive fans, LATAM Colombia is more exciting than today’s uniform fleet suggests:

• Dash 8: The turboprops were long the face of AIRES. Besides the small Dash 8-200 and Dash 8-300 variants, a few used Dash 8-400s also flew from 2010.
• Boeing 737-700: With it, AIRES became a jet airline. After the takeover, LAN replaced the Boeing narrowbodies with Airbus.
• Boeing 767-300ER: In the 2010s the Colombian airline at times also flew widebody jets of this type from the group pool.

How to recognize LATAM Colombia

Visually, LATAM Colombia does not differ from its sisters. Since 2016 the aircraft have carried the LATAM group livery: white fuselage, large “LATAM” titles in indigo blue, plus an indigo blue tail with a coral red accent and the stylized LATAM logo. The old LAN colors with the star on the tail have disappeared, as has the AIRES livery from the 2000s.

The deciding feature is therefore the registration. Colombian aircraft carry the prefix HK- followed by digits. If it says CC-, the aircraft is registered in Chile; PR-, PS- or PT- point to Brazil. What the characters on the fuselage generally mean is explained in the article on aircraft registrations.

Alliance and partners

As LAN Colombia, the airline was a affiliate member of oneworld from the end of 2013, together with the other LAN companies. On May 1, 2020, the LATAM group left the alliance. Since then it has operated without an alliance and relies mainly on a close partnership with Delta Air Lines. Old photos of LAN Colombia aircraft with oneworld references are therefore period documents; you’ll find more on such liveries in the article on alliance liveries.

In 2020 the LATAM group fell into a severe crisis during the pandemic and entered a Chapter 11 restructuring in the USA. Flight operations continued, and the group has since completed the process.

The market in Colombia

Colombia is an exciting aviation market. Because roads over the Andes are long and slow, many people fly even short distances. Domestic traffic is correspondingly dense. LATAM Colombia shares this market mainly with:

• Avianca: the long-established number one with roots going back to 1919 and its hub also in Bogotá.
• Wingo: Copa’s low-cost brand with Boeing 737s and a base in Bogotá.
• Satena: the state-owned regional airline for remote parts of the country.
• Clic: the former EasyFly with ATR turboprops.

Until early 2023, Viva Air Colombia was also one of the big players; the low-cost carrier ceased operations at the end of February 2023. On the cargo side in Bogotá, Avianca Cargo, Aerosucre and LAS stand out – one reason El Dorado has a good reputation among spotters.

Spotting LATAM Colombia

In Colombia

Your best chances are at Bogotá-El Dorado, the airline’s hub. LATAM A320s land and take off here all day, joined by the sister companies’ widebody jets on connections to Santiago, Lima or São Paulo. The second important base is Medellín-José María Córdova in Rionegro, high above the Aburrá Valley. On the Caribbean coast in Cartagena, Barranquilla and Santa Marta, and on San Andrés, LATAM Colombia is also a regular sight.

According to route overviews, the airline flies domestically to Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Bucaramanga, Santa Marta, Pereira, Cúcuta, Montería, Pasto, Leticia and San Andrés, among others. The list changes with every schedule, so check the current network in the tracker before you travel.

In the Caribbean and North America

Internationally, according to route overviews, LATAM Colombia serves destinations such as Aruba and Curaçao, plus connections to South America and Florida. If you’re in Miami, it’s worth looking out for LATAM A320s from Colombia – keep an eye on the tracker, because widebody jets of other LATAM companies land there too. You’ll find tips on spots in the guide Plane spotting in Miami.

In Europe

In Europe you won’t encounter LATAM Colombia. The group’s long-haul routes to Europe are flown mainly by LATAM Brasil and the Chilean LATAM Airlines. If you want to see Colombia in Europe, look out for Avianca instead.

Common mix-ups

• Equating an LA flight number with LATAM Chile – LA is the group code, ARE on the tracker shows LATAM Colombia.
• Taking AIRES for a vanished airline – the brand is gone, but the company keeps flying as LATAM Colombia.
• Assuming every LATAM A320 in Colombia is Colombian – the group’s aircraft move between the subsidiaries; the registration decides.
• Expecting LATAM Colombia in Europe – the airline does not fly European routes.
• Still classing LATAM as oneworld – the group’s membership ended in May 2020.

Conclusion

LATAM Airlines Colombia is the former AIRES, a regional airline from the Andes that became Colombia’s number two after the LAN takeover. Today it flies a lean A320 fleet from Bogotá across the whole country and into the Caribbean. For spotters the appeal lies in the attribution: same livery as all LATAM subsidiaries, flight numbers with LA, but ICAO code ARE and the Colombian registration HK-. And if you also have old photos from the AIRES era with the Dash 8 or 737-700, you have genuine archive treasures.