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Avianca accuses JetSmart’s bid for Viva Air as unfeasible and distracting

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After it became known that JetSmart would be interested in acquiring a 100% stake in Viva Air, Avianca criticized the Chilean airline’s move.

Avianca began by clarifying, regarding JetSmart’s intention to acquire Viva Air, that, for the time being, no proposal has been received to transfer Avianca’s economic participation in the low-cost airline in Colombia.

At the same time, the Chilean company’s position does not become a real option to solve Viva Air’s crisis.

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Three arguments support Avianca’s position. The first of these is that JetSmart and its second largest shareholder (American Airlines) operate in the Colombian market.

Given this, any movement or transaction would need the same approvals that Avianca needs for the integration with Viva Air.

In addition, “this transaction could be subject, not only to approvals in Colombia, but also in the other markets in which Viva participates together with JetSmart and/or American Airlines, including countries such as Peru, Argentina, Chile and the United States”.

The third argument is that the process of obtaining permits, which in the case of the Colombian airlines began six months ago, could not begin until after there is an agreement for JetSmart to take a stake in the Colombian company.

In view of the above, Avianca sees JetSmart’s move as having a single objective: “to use a proposal, clearly unfeasible, to generate a distraction to the integration request of Viva and Avianca”.

For the time being, Avianca’s position is to maintain the process of a single business group with the Colombian low-cost airline, reported Valora Analitik.

On Tuesday, the CEO of Chilean airline JetSmart, Estuardo Ortiz, revealed his “interest in entering into negotiations to acquire 100% of the shares of the airline Viva Air”.

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