Colombia seeks a solution to the 460,000 tickets sold by Viva

BOGOTÁ (AP) — The Colombian government is seeking solutions for passengers who purchased more than 460,000 tickets and reservations that airline Viva Air sold for 2023 before suddenly suspending operations due to a financial crisis.

Transport Minister Guillermo Reyes said in an official statement on Wednesday that his government’s priority was to protect the rights of users and the more than 1,700 direct workers of Viva Air. For March, he added, there are 230,000 tickets in the hands of passengers.

Low-cost airline Viva Air has suspended operations in Colombia and Peru since Monday evening, citing an unsustainable financial crisis and amid an integration process with Avianca – Colombia’s main airline – which is not was not approved by Colombian Aeronautics and according to Viva, this would give it the financial muscle to continue operating.

Francisco Lalinde, interim president of Viva Air, assured local radio station Blu on Wednesday that the airline was going into a liquidation process and that it did not have the capacity to return the money to passengers. He explained that the contingency plan is in charge of civil aeronautics and other airlines that offer seats on their flights to affected passengers.

The Superintendency of Transport, the authority in charge of monitoring the sector, notified on Wednesday the opening of an administrative investigation and the filing of a complaint against Viva Air for allegedly not having guaranteed the provision of the service by not accompanying the suspension of its operations from a “, truthful information. , timely and accurate for each user”.