Avianca abandons integration with Viva Air
Avianca informed this Saturday that after studying in detail the resolution 873 of 2023 of the Colombian Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil) and finding that the conditions make the recovery of Viva Air impossible and could even affect its stability, the company was forced to desist from the integration.
Some of the “technical deficiencies” in the latest response issued by the aeronautical authority (according to Avianca), are as follows:
- Lack of regulatory flexibility to provide certainty on the conditions for reactivation of Viva’s operations.
- Lack of adjustment of the conditions to Viva’s current reality and the time elapsed between the beginning of the process on August 8, 2022 and the date of a firm decision. The conditionalities require Avianca to assume obligations, routes, and service and price level commitments that do not match Viva’s remaining capacity after two months of suspended operations.
- Despite Avianca’s willingness to return more than 75% of Viva’s slots at El Dorado -and more than 72% of Viva’s slots in “premium” slots-, the authority demanded the return of such a number of slots that would not allow Viva to base a single aircraft at the country’s main airport in an efficient manner.
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Avianca indicated that this would make Viva economically unviable, and explicitly contradicts other conditions that require Viva to continue providing connectivity on historical routes where it was the only operator, and that passengers affected by Viva’s cessation of operations, which according to official figures exceed 500,000, be protected.
Despite this outcome, Avianca will seek to increase its number of aircraft to provide better connectivity to the regions, while implementing mechanisms to offer employment options to Viva employees.
Adrian Neuhauser, President and CEO of Avianca, said: “Unfortunately, the conditions of this resolution, which is already the final decision, make it impossible to rescue Viva by making it not only unviable as an airline, but, if the integration takes place under the conditions imposed by the Aerocivil, it would put Avianca’s stability and Colombia’s connectivity at risk.
“Unfortunately, this long process puts Viva, the airline that brought the low-cost model to the country, put millions of Colombians on flights at competitive prices and provided direct and indirect employment to thousands of families, at imminent risk of disappearing. Now the challenge for the country will be to advance plans to protect the sector and prevent Colombia from continuing to lose competitiveness, diverting the flow of passengers to countries such as Panama, Chile and Peru,” concluded Neuhauser.
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