Viva Air suspended its operations throughout the country on the night of this Monday, February 27. The decision was made after the company asked the Civil Aeronautics last year to join a larger airline due to its financial crisis.
The news stranded thousands of passengers who had scheduled flights with the airline, so at various airports, mainly in the gold of bogotaclaims were filed.
(Also read: Viva Air suspends its operations immediately: find out the reasons).
The ‘low cost’ airline said through a statement that its request has not yet been resolved despite its urgent request due to the risk of “disappearing” from the market.
“Today, Civil Aeronautics issued a communication acknowledging the interests of various third parties regarding Viva’s urgent request to allow its integration with a stronger and larger group of airlines. This unprecedented decision by the entity, given as This has resulted in further delays in making a decision, which is why Viva is unfortunately forced to announce the suspension of its operations with immediate effect,” the Viva Air statement said.
The airline referred to go to the five foreign companies that the Civil Aeronautics decided as ‘interested third parties’. Among these are: Latam Airlines, Wingo, JetSmart Airlines, Aerolíneas Argentinas and Ultra Air.
(You can read: After the departure of the president of Viva, what is the integration with Avianca?).
Response of the AeroCivil
The Civil Aeronautics spoke after the suspension of operations of Viva Air and, among other things, requested respect for the rights of passengers who have national and international tickets purchased with the airline and are suffering the consequences of cancellations.
In addition, the entity registered with the airline that the operation presented by the companies for authorization by the Civil Aeronautics was objected to by the Air Transport Directorate on November 4, 2022, “by identifying that it tended to produce an undue restriction on the competence”.
(You may be interested: Crisis in Viva Air: Félix Antelo resigned from the airline’s presidency).
Due to this decision, the Air Transport Directorate assured that the conditions offered by the intervening parties to mitigate the impact on free competition “will be transferred in a timely and transparent manner to the recognized third parties interested in the action, who will be able to express their opinions in this regard. The conditions will be evaluated with technical rigor and under the need to protect the collective interest of free competition in order to determine if the integration operation can be viable”.
The AeroCivil described Viva Air’s decision to cancel passenger miles flights as a “manifestation”Therefore, the entity, within the exercise of its functions and together with the Superintendence of Transportation, will especially ensure respect for the rights of affected users.
