This Saturday the deadline for Avianca to decide whether to accept the conditions of the Civil Aeronautics for the Viva Air integrationairlines that suspended its operations due to economic problems on February 27.
After studying the Aerocivil proposal, Avianca announced that it abandoned its integration with the ‘low cost’ airlinemainly, because the conditions imposed by the authority put the exercise of their activities and the air sector itself at risk, according to information in a statement.
(Also read: Avianca withdraws from its integration with Viva Air).
“The conditions of this resolution are missing, which is already the firm decision, making it impossible to rescue Viva by making it not only unfeasible as an airline, but also, if integration occurs under the conditions imposed by Aerocivil, it would have
The stability of Avianca and the connectivity of Colombia are at risk“, explained Adrián Neuhauser, President and CEO of Avianca.
Why did Avianca renounce the integration with Viva Air?
Through a text, the company disclosed the reasons why it withdrew from its integration with the low-cost airline, which are mainly focused on the technical shortcomings that Avianca found in resolution 873 of 2023.
1. Little regulatory flexibility to provide certainty about the conditions for the reactivation of Viva’s operations.
2. Inconsistencies between Viva’s conditioning and capabilities. According to Avianca, the conditions of Aerocivil did not conform to the current reality of Viva and the time elapsed between the start of the process on August 8, 2022 and the date of a final decision.
The conditions required Avianca to assume obligations, routes, and commitments of levels of service operations and prices that did not coincide with the remaining capacities of Viva after two months of suspension.
3. The number of slots required was economically unfeasible for Viva Air. According to Avianca, despite its willingness to return more than 75% of Viva’s slots in El Dorado -and more than 72% of Viva’s slots in “premium” slots-, the authority demanded the return of a number of slots such that it would not allow Viva to base a single plane at the country’s main airport efficiently.
According to the company, this decision is contradicted by Aerocivil’s request that Viva Air continue connecting territories in which it was the only operator and with the need to protect passengers affected by the cessation of activities.
