Colombia’s civil aviation authority Thursday approved the union of Avianca airlines with Grupo TACA.
An Avianca spokesperson confirmed that the agreement between the majority shareholder of Avianca, German Efromovich, and that of TACA, the Kriete family, had been authorized, reported Reuters Thursday.
Efromovich will have a 66% share in the new holding company, and the Kriete family will have a 33% share, according to executives.
Avianca, Colombia’s largest airline, announced the merger with the Salvadorean airline in early October. Their merger will make them the second-largest airline in Latin America after the Chilean LAN airline.
The airlines, which each continue to operate under their own brands, have combined sales of 3,000 billion a year.
