Avianca integrated into Viva Air from the beginning of 2022, assured representative Catherine Juvinao

The representative in the Chamber of Bogotá, Catherine Juvinao, denounced on Thursday March 9 that the airlines Viva Air and Avianca had already integrated themselves behind the backs of the authorities at the beginning of 2023. The parliamentarian was clear in warning that the Superintendency already has the evidence and has already found merit in opening an official investigation. In addition, and it was clear in this regard, the director of operations of the Colombian airline recognized it.

“Avianca has already acknowledged that the integration and purchase has already taken place. Avianca’s director of operations granted him an interview published yesterday by the Change magazinein which he acknowledges that the purchase took place and that it was 240 million US dollars. In a tone, for me, not very modest and not very respectful of the rule of law in Colombia, he said that if the Colombian state does not approve of the integration that they have already made, then Avianca no longer has any means of recovering this money.. Here, Avianca preferred to ask for forgiveness rather than ask for permission,” he said. snail radio Representative Juvinao.

Given this position on the part of Avianca, the representative wondered, first from the Congress of the Republic and today in the morning from the microphones of snail radiobecause the airline claims that it has no way of recovering this money because, according to it, “basically they’re telling Aerocivil ‘either they approve of the integration or they approve of it'”, And what we revealed yesterday are the details of this integration, which took place between March and April 2022.

In detail, the representative explained to the House, to Avianca Holdings Already Long live Latin America They were bought by a new company in the UK called Investment Vehicle 1 Limited And what is serious is that they wanted to simulate, before the Colombian authorities, a supposed independence after integration.

“And how did they want to simulate this independence? By creating two shell companies, two paper companies, called West Castle there South Castle. These companies were created by senior Avianca executives and what they did with these paper companies was to separate the political rights of Viva Latinoamérica, Viva Colombia and Viva Peru. The purchase has taken place and the integration has taken place, so the big question that remains here is “:

If Avianca and Viva belong to the same company since last year, which placed the order for Viva, the February 27 this yearSuddenly and without warning the authorities and passengers, suspend operations, leaving nearly 500,000 national and international users to their fate?

“Here what we see is an absolutely antithetical operation, because what the Superintendence is saying is that since 2021 Avianca and Viva have been carrying out coordinated operations which have been reflected, for example, in the sustained rate increase in 2021, in Avianca Executive Cabin fares. And another thing that happened is that while they were doing the operation, between March and April 2022, the percentage of competition on the national routes that they had decreased and they went from 98% competition for the market at 82%. This happened within two months,” Rep. Juvinao said.

Finally, Catherine Juvinao also drew attention to the resignation of senior executives in 2022, who knew that they were fitting in behind the backs of the Colombian authorities and that what they were doing was irregular, to the point that the new parent company of the two airlines, Investment Vehicle 1 Limitedgave indemnification contracts to the executives involved in this operation, to protect them from future legal problems.

However, Juvinao clarified, the Superintendency in its statement of charges filed charges against a senior executive of Avianca, its legal director, Richard Galindoand who will have to answer since the investigation continues.

“Here we are before a very sad chapter where two companies act in a coordinated way behind the back of a country’s authorities, making joint decisions to the detriment of users. And the worst thing is that when the crisis broke on February 27, Avianca leaves to play the good Samaritan, during statements saying they will support all stranded passengers. It is very cynical because Viva and Avianca were already the same and have been part of the same parent company since the beginning of last year,” concluded Juvinao.