Starting this Monday night, multiple stories of passengers who bought Viva Air tickets and couldn’t travel because the airline suddenly announced that it was temporarily suspending its operations.
Users were literally stranded at airports, many of them even they had to spend the night in the terminalsnot only national, but international where Viva had operations.
(Also read: Viva reappears and says that the suspension of flights is not to put pressure on the Government)
Given this situation, Viva Air assured that those passengers who have been affected by the suspension of their operations will be able to be attentive to future developments that will be announced on the airline’s website (www.vivaair.com).
Latam will rearrange Viva Air passengers in the seats available on their flights for passengers who will have a flight date until Thursday, March 2
But while this is happening, the Civil Aeronautics said that passengers who will have a ticket issued or a confirmed reservation for today, February 28, and for tomorrow, March 1, Satena is offering transportation alternatives on shared routesaccording to the availability of seats, without additional cost.
Meanwhile, Latam Airlines announced that it will rearrange Viva Air passengers in the seats available on its flights for passengers who will have flight date until Thursday, March 2. The protection is being carried out directly to the airports and will not have any cost for Viva or for the passengers.
In addition, the airline will continue to evaluate the situation in order to timely define an extension for flights after this date.
For its part, Wingo announced that it maintains the endorsement agreement with Viva Air so that affected passengers can be relocated to seats on flights from Bogotá to Medellín, Cali, Santa Marta, Cartagena and Lima.
Likewise, this measure will be applied to Wingo routes that leave from Medellín to Bogotá, Punta Cana and Cancún. This measure will be in force until March 15, 2023.
(Also read: Aerocivil responds to Viva Air after suspending and defends passenger operations)
Now is the time for us as an industry to help the hundreds of passenger miles affected by a crisis that was clearly preventable.
According to Wingo, travelers interested in this alternative should have scheduled and duly documented flight with Viva Air and each passenger must request the endorsement directly from this airline. In this way, their relocation will be facilitated at no cost, depending on availability.
As the situation progresses, Wingo will review the need to extend this protection measure.
The airline will also make available reduced fares for affected travelers and the mechanism to access these rates can be found on the airline’s website.
In addition, the airlines Long live Aerobus and Volaris Special rates will apply to those passengers bound for Mexico City and Cancun, who will have a confirmed reservation with Viva Air on the base rate, effective from February 28 to March 15.
Regarding Avianca, the company said that those passengers with tickets or reservations confirmed on February 27 and 28 and on March 1 they will be relocated, free of charge and in order of arrival, on Avianca flights that have availability.
Passengers who are interested can request their protection directly at the airports. additionally and in case the situation requires it, Avianca will consider offering additional flights to help Viva passengers meet their flight plans.
(Also read: MinTransporte asks for ‘patience’ from stranded Viva Air passengers)
“Now is the time for us as an industry to help the hundreds of thousands of passengers who are affected by a crisis that clearly could have been avoided. Aerocivil has already enabled mechanisms so that we can protect users and our task is to make all our capacity to do so available to the country,” said Adrián Neuhauser, president and CEO of Avianca.
Likewise, Avianca stated that the Viva Air crisis “undoubtedly represents a risk to the stability of the air sector and directly impacts the regions that depend exclusively on Viva as the sole operator, its dynamic hub in Antioquia, its development and the more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs that generates the low-cost”.
