After approximately 5 years of being the CEO of Viva Air, Félix Antelo submitted his resignation and left arguing health problems, in the midst of the difficult financial situation that crosses this low-cost airline.
As a result of this, the company had to ground five of its planes by order of their owner, in the midst of negotiations that were carried out to reach agreements for the debts.
(Also read: Viva Air appoints Francisco Lalinde as interim president and CEO)
In addition, he found himself in need of suspend 17 weekly flights leaving Cali to Cartagena, Santa Marta and San Andrés, since the beginning of this month. This reduction in supply from Cali is being replaced with connections through Medellín and Bogotá.
Viva Air has stated on different occasions that its «only salvation» to continue operating in the country is for the Civil Aeronautics to approve the business integration with aviancaan operation that has been studied since August 2022.
The final decision of the Aerocivil would be known by mid-Marchafter the first ruling limiting that this integration was not viable due to the risks it represents for competition in the sector was annulled on January 18, due to «a substantial irregularity» in the processing of the process.
The response issued by this authority will be known after the endorsement given last week for other airlines such as Copa Airlines, Ultra Air and JetSmart They can comment on the integration of Avianca and Viva Air as interested third parties.
In addition, the participation of the Superintendence of Transportation was requested so that, as an entity that exercises control and surveillance, it can provide useful elements for the analysis of the operation between these two airlines.
(Also read: Ultra Air excludes its routes in Colombia and seeks to enter 5 more countries)
The other Viva Air options
Any negotiation with Latam, JetSmart or another third party would take a considerable time and there is still no certainty that a transaction can be agreed.
On February 10, Viva Air announced that it will enter a business recovery process that will take three months in order to restructure your debts through a negotiation with its main creditors to continue operating under sustainable conditions.
The crisis facing the company is due to a combination of the effects of covid-19, the devaluation of the Colombian peso against the dollar and a high cost of jet fuel.
But in addition to the business integration and restructuring doubts, Viva has two salvage options on the table that it could consider. In recent weeks it has been learned that Latam Airlines and JetSmart are interested in acquiring this low-cost airline.
However, CastleSouth Limited -controlling shareholder- stated that any negotiation with Latam, JetSmart or another third party would take a considerable time without there being any certainty that a transaction can be agreed upon.
(Also read: Viva Air workers will protest to keep their jobs)
Even if a deal is reached, it would be subject to an additional waiting period to obtain applicable regulatory clearances. But, according to Castlesouth Limited, this is a time that lives does not have to stabilize in the market.
If this alliance is approved, Latam proposes that it be conditional on the fact that Viva return 100 percent of the slots (landing and takeoff permits) that it has from the El Dorado airport so that they can be distributed among the other airlines, according to the existing regulations in Colombia, in order to give them growth opportunities.
But Wingo’s proposal not only includes the return of «a significant number of slots in high-demand time slots» at El Dorado, but also slots and parking positions at other congested airports such as the José María Córdova from Medellín and Rafael Núñez from Cartagena.
