"It was a unilateral decision": Attorney General's Office talks about crisis with Viva Air - Business

after the sudden cancellation of operations announced by the airline Viva Air on the night of this Monday, February 27, Several alarms went off in the country, especially due to the thousands of passengers who were left waiting for their flight at different airports.

Due to the commotion caused by the news, different entities spoke out about it, including the Attorney General’s Office which, at 2:00 in the afternoon on Wednesday, March 1, established a dialogue table with the order to solve the problem that would descend to at least 466,000 passengers.

Current situation of Viva Air passengers at the José María Córdova airport in Rionegro, during the second day of the suspension of operations.

Photo:

Jaiver Nieto Álvarez/El Tiempo

According to the information provided by the Delegate Attorney for administrative conciliation, Luis Ramiro Escandón, is counted on the participation of the Aerocivil, the Superintendency of Transportation and the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce.

(It may interest you: Avianca announced that it temporarily suspends the sale of tickets).

In this, the activities that the state entities were carrying out with respect to the crisis generated by the airline were reviewed at first. There it was possible to determine that each one of the summoned was exercising their respective functions by order of President Gustavo Petro.

“It is important to understand that this situation or crisis is caused by a unilateral decision made by Viva Air,” Escandón commented when explaining the actors in the matter.

The measures implemented to help passengers

On the other hand, in order to be able to provide some kind of help to passengers who are waiting for a solution in the cold corridors of airports, the Superintendence of Industry and the national government implemented some measures to help those who are in that situation. situation.

Passengers stranded at El Dorado airport.

Photo:

Mauricio Moreno / EL TIEMPO

“In solidarity with the situation and to overcome the effects caused to travelers airlines such as Avianca, Satena and Latam, have implemented quotas for affected passengers”commented during the press conference.

In other words, these airlines will be giving “free seats” for those who are stranded due to the cessation of operations.

(Also: The drama of international tourists in Cartagena due to flight cancellations).

It should be remembered that the Attorney General’s Office also installed a Unified Command Post (PMU) to attend to the number of people who are asking the authorities for solutions at the Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Airport in San Andrés.

Faced with this, according to the official statement issued by the entity, the Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, in response to a request from the attorney, Margarita Cabello, who demonstrated firsthand the situation at said airport, sent by the envoy of a humanitarian flight of the Colombian Air Force -FAC- with capacity for 124 passengers.

Likewise, he spoke about a possible sanction to the company.

“The airline should answer for those tickets, if they do not do so, the actions of state entities enter to verify if the company is sanctioned”, concluded the official.