After Avianca gave up its integration with Viva Air, pointing out that there were a series of technical shortcomings set forth in the Aerocivil resolution where the union of both airlines was approved, at least 1,250 Viva’s direct workers maintain the hope of being able to join a business reorganization process to save their jobs.
(Keep reading: Viva Air says goodbye: “The company no longer has the capacity to operate”)
Avianca announced that, in an attempt to provide solutions, it will seek to increase its number of aircraft to provide better connectivity to the regions and with this will implement mechanisms to offer employment options to Viva employees.
(It may interest you: Avianca says no to Aerocivil: reasons why it gave up its integration with Viva)
However, “there are around 4,000 indirect workers left without this support and regarding the direct ones the airline has not yet said that it will hire a specific number of employees,” Carlos Roncancio, legal adviser of the Colombian Air Workers, explained to EL TIEMPO.
According to the lawyer, only to the extent that Avianca’s operations allow it, will it be possible to hire some employees whose future employment is still uncertain. However, what will happen to those workers that the airline cannot hire remains unknown.
“The damage caused by this decision by Aerocivil goes beyond the issue of free competition, it goes beyond the bankruptcy of a company,” said Roncancio, because there are many families that depend on these jobs and They have no other way of subsisting.
According to the expert, there have been several shortcomings of Aerocivil in this process, which is why many workers, both direct and indirect, are thinking of taking legal action against the State.
Nor is it known exactly what will happen to Viva users and other players, such as travel agencies that have purchased hundreds of tickets with the airline.
The truth is that over the course of several years, Viva Air lost around 16 routes and 26 destinations, including seven international ones.. Although at the close of operations it only had 16, it served markets such as the United States (Miami), Mexico (Cancun), the Dominican Republic, Peru (Cuzco), Argentina and Brazil (Sao Paulo).
(Also read: What happens if you have a ticket with Viva Air after Avianca’s no to integration?)
Among the routes that were in force until February 27 of this year were those that went from San Andrés to Armenia; Bucaramanga and Pereira; from Armenia to Cartagena and Medellín; from Cartagena to Cúcuta, Neiva, Pasto and Villavicencio; and the one that goes from Pereira to Riohacha.*With information on Economy and Business.
