Avianca’s Elias joins Cargo Facts Symposium 2026

Avianca Cargo Chief Executive Diogo Elias will join Cargo Facts Symposium 2026 for the panel discussion “Rebalancing capacity in the global freighter market” on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 9:15 a.m. (GMT -5).

The 32nd annual Cargo Facts Symposium will take place Oct. 21-23 at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tenn., where industry leaders and decision makers will gather to assess the latest trends and developments in the freighter sector, while sharing their insights to project the market’s growth trajectory.

View the Cargo Facts Symposium 2026 agenda.

Joining Elias on the panel are:

• Andres Bianchi, chief executive at LATAM Cargo; and
• Peter Penseel, Delta Cargo president.

The panelists will discuss:

• How to deal with unpredictability in air cargo traffic flows and geopolitics;
• Adapting capacity to match demand — the need for fluidity and flexibility; and
• Strategies for maximizing freighter fleet utilization.

Elias became CEO of Avianca Cargo in May 2025 after serving in multiple cargo management roles with the Avianca group for almost ten years. He was promoted to senior vice president of cargo in September 2023.

Avianca has six production A330-200Fs, one A330-200P2F and two A330-300P2Fs. It continued to expand its route network this year, launching new A330 freighter service between Miami (MIA), Bogota (BOG) and Bolivia (VVI) in June.

The Colombia-based carrier also increased capacity between MIA and Quito (UIO) with Amazon 767 freighters in April.

Avianca expanded its visibility in Latin America in 2025 after rebranding Mexico-based AeroUnion as Avianca Cargo Mexico as part of a commercial cooperation agreement between the two carriers.

Cargo Facts Symposium 2026, the premier event for the freighter aircraft and air cargo industries, will take place in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 21-23. Find out more and register by Sept. 4 to take advantage of early-bird pricing.