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Abra Group and Volotea halt creation of their joint venture

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Abra Group, which controls the airlines Avianca and Brazil’s GOL, and Spain’s Volotea have halted the creation of the joint venture planned to take over the Air Europa routes that IAG had to divest in order to obtain the approval of the EU competition authorities for the purchase of Globalia’s airline.

Volotea sources have told EFE Agency that they “regret” that the operation did not go ahead, as it was “a unique opportunity for the sector and for our country”.

Last June, Abra and Volotea agreed to create this joint venture to take over the Air Europa routes that Brussels required IAG to divest in order to approve the purchase.

→ Volotea inaugurates its 21st base at Bari Airport (Italy)

The agreement was to complement the short-haul service offered by Volotea and the long-haul service offered by Avianca, leader in Colombia, Ecuador and Central America, and Gol, leader in Brazil.

However, it was subject to the fact that they could act as ‘remedy takers’ (the competitors that take over the routes and/or frequencies that the buyer cedes) in the purchase by the IAG group, to which Iberia belongs, of Air Europa.

Even so, the sources add, both Abra and Volotea will continue to explore commercial opportunities in the future.

For Volotea, the operation was a good opportunity to grow in Spain, but “we will continue our development strategy in the market, although the pace will be different”.

IAG announced Thursday that it is abandoning the process of buying Air Europa because the demands of the EU competition authorities were so high that the operation no longer made business sense.

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