In this, the tenth year of the ceremony, The Airline Strategy Award panel chose AviancaTaca Holding S.A. as the best airline company in the "Finance" category.

Airline Business, one of the most respected publications in the airline industry, and the organizer of the awards, highlighted the optimal management of the financial challenges faced by the organization. They also highlighted the integration of key business processes and the successful initial public offering in the Colombian stock market.

Yesterday, on July 17, the specialist aviation magazine Airline Business held The Airline Strategy Awards 2011 in London, England.

During the tenth awards ceremony, AviancaTaca Holding S.A. received the maximum recognition available in the Finance category. According to the report published in magazine: "Merging any two businesses is complicated enough, but it is even more difficult when both are airline groups. This is what the Grupo Synergy and Grupo TACA achieved through the creation of the second largest group of airlines in Latin America".

In other sections, the publication notes: "When they completed this landmark deal in February last year, they combined 13 carriers from 10 countries, serving more than 100 destinations in 25 nations. They have also nearly finished the Herculean task of integrating reservation, passenger, accounting and revenue management systems.They had a successful IPO in April and the company shares have been publicly traded since May. The plan for AviancaTaca to join the Star Alliance group of airlines in January 2012 adds impetus to the process," concludes Airline Business.

In addition to the Finance award, The Airline Strategy Awards also chooses winners in categories including: Executive Leadership; Low-cost Leadership; Regional Leadership; Marketing; Environment and Technology. These were awarded to well-known airlines and airline groups from five continents.

Max Kingsley-Jones, Editor of Airline Business said: "With so many factors threatening the recovery of the industry, as never before, leadership is a determining factor. We founded the Airline Strategy Awards a decade ago to recognize the best leaders in various fields and, as always, this year's winners stand out in their fields."

The Executive Chairman of AviancaTaca Holding S.A., Fabio Villegas Ramirez, noted: "The Finance category prize received by AviancaTaca Holding S.A. at the Airline Strategy Awards constitutes recognition by aviation experts of the teamwork carried out by Avianca and Grupo Taca employees to consolidate the integration and financial strengthening of the organization. We thank Airline Business and the experienced jury members for this honorable distinction, which encourages us to continue working even harder to develop our business plan and services."

About Airline Business: Airline Business is a monthly magazine distributed to airline boarding gates and lounges around the world. It is part of the Flightglobal editorial group, which includes Air Transport Intelligence and flightglobal.com. It has been published for more than 25 years and covers the most important strategic and business issues of the day in the airline industry. It has editorial offices in London, Washington and Singapore.

To find out more information about The Airline Strategy Awards, visit:www.strategyawards.com