Madrid-based Wamos Air has officially joined Abra Group, the parent company of Colombian airline Avianca and Brazil’s Gol, five months after the companies first announced the transaction.
Abra said on 16 October it completed the acquisition. Wamos, founded in 2003, will maintain its leadership, brand, talent, teams, culture and operations – similar to how Gol and Avianca are operating under the Abra holding company structure – “while benefiting from greater efficiencies and scale”, Abra says.
Wamos flies charters and operates flights on behalf of other companies under aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance agreements. It has a fleet of three Airbus A330-200s.
“This development is consistent with Abra’s consolidation strategy, which seeks to bring together iconic companies,” says Abra Group chief executive Adrian Neuhauser.
“The airlines in our group, such as Avianca and Gol, are leaders in their markets and business models, so welcoming Wamos Air makes perfect sense and aligns with our goal of better connecting Latin America to the world in a simple, accessible, reliable and sustainable way, with a fleet of over 300 aircraft to serve more than 130 destinations in over 25 countries across the Americas and Europe,” he adds.
Wamos CEO Enrique Saiz says the transaction marks a new chapter for his airline, allowing it “to pursue new business strategies, growth and consolidation, while continuing to focus on our wet lease business, flying for the world’s leading airlines”.
On 10 May, Wamos and Abra announced Abra’s initial “strategic investment”.
Abra was formed in 2022 when shareholders of formerly independent Avianca and Gol agreed to form Abra as the parent of both. Gol, an all 737-operator, primarily flies within South America, while Avianca flies Airbus A320-family jets and Boeing 787s across a network that includes cities in both North America and Europe, among them Madrid.
