As the German bus company celebrates its 12th anniversary, Flixbus Chile’s Managing Director, Santiago Echeverría, shared its high expectations for the Chilean market and plans to continue expanding operations in 2025.
Flixbus, a German company, began operating in Europe on February 15, 2013. The Munich-born bus company now serves 44 countries worldwide; Chile and Brazil are the only Latin American countries with operations. In a conversation with Diario Financiero, Santiago Echeverría, Managing Director at Flixbus Chile, remarked that the company «has experienced really accelerated growth» in its «twelve years of buses on the road.»
The executive explained that the early years focused on expansion within Europe. However, beginning in 2020, the company grew beyond the continent. It even crossed the Atlantic: first to the United States and Canada, then to Türkiye and Brazil.
Flixbus arrived in Chile in mid-2023, and in 2024, efforts focused on India. The company announced its 2025 focus will be «continuing to expand the Latin American network.» According to Echeverría, the company plans to launch operations in Mexico and Peru in the first half of the year and expand to «other markets within the region eventually.»
«Flixbus is in a global expansion process,» said Echeverría, noting that the company now operates in 44 countries, has over 10,000 buses on the road worldwide and more than 300,000 daily connections.
«Flixbus is always watching many markets simultaneously. We are looking at other markets. The most obvious are Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador. I would say practically all of Latin America is under evaluation. Despite no formal decisions to enter any of these markets, we should potentially be operating there within the next year,» said the German company’s Managing Director.
Regarding the company’s interest in expanding beyond Latin America, Echeverría commented, «There are several interesting countries and markets. There are a few in Southeast Asia in addition to New Zealand, Australia and Japan.»
According to the executive, Chile’s bus sector has lost nearly 20 million passengers in ten years, i.e., approximately 2 million annually. He observed that «the sector has experienced quite a dramatic decline.»
«Our assessment is that bus fares had become too expensive. Flixbus saw an opportunity in Chile’s inflated prices and decided ‘to enter the local market with a super-competitive pricing proposal in order to rebound and win back the sector’s 20 million lost passengers’ and basically try to offer the best proposal for the passenger,» he concluded.
Thus, «2024 was a high growth year. Our Chilean network now serves 18 cities in seven regions between La Serena and Puerto Montt. Very accelerated growth brought us from 15 to 95 operational buses. I would say invoice amounts grew approximately seven times this year,» he said, adding that Flixbus is still seeing growth that should continue in 2025.
Noting that Flixbus’s Chilean operations are far from the company’s position in other markets, the Managing Director commented, «We have set our sights very high for the Chilean market.» He said the company plans to grow sales by «at least» 300% in 2025. In terms of fleet, it aspires to be Chile’s second or third-largest operator by year-end, which would mean ending the year with over 200 buses.
Echeverría explained that the 2025 domestic expansion focus is on Chile’s Norte Grande, where the company hopes to reach cities like Calama, Antofagasta, Copiapó, Arica and Iquique. This is in addition to its intention to strengthen the network connecting the country’s Metropolitan and Fifth Regions.
«We currently provide coverage to more than 50% of the Chilean population, and we expect to increase that figure to over 80% by year-end, expanding to some 30 cities in northern Chile,» he said.
In 2024, Flixbus Chile transported more than 2 million passengers. By 2025, «if all goes well,» the company expects to serve more than 5 million passengers.
«Our decision to continue investing in Chile is huge,» said Echeverría, who revealed that after a global management meeting, the company decided to continue and even increase investment in our country. He explained that the company is looking for organic growth through its partners as well as some M&A alternatives.
«We are interested in potentially purchasing some local operators. We know many companies are in really poor financial positions right now. So we are evaluating the purchase of a couple of companies in the local market,» revealed the executive. On that topic, he remarked: «We have decided Chile is a market where we want to continue investing. So, we will probably build and strengthen our position here in the next few months. We expect to close at least one or two (M&A) deals this year.»
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