:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/4SRTVM3SP5ZW7HVRGZJZBPFIPU.jpg "Colombia: Viva Air suspends operations, passengers complain 1")
BOGOTÁ (AP) – Low-cost airline Viva Air has suspended operations in Colombia due to the critical financial situation it is going through, pending the completion of an integration process with a group of airlines that must be approved by the Colombian authorities.
The suspension of operations was notified by the airline on Monday evening with “immediate effect” and without indicating to passengers the steps to follow to continue their routes. On Tuesday, dozens demanded an immediate solution at Bogotá’s international airport while waiting with their suitcases on chairs or lying on the ground. In Peru, where Viva Air also operates, hundreds of passengers have been affected, including at the country’s most important airport, Jorge Chávez, located in the capital.
Jesús Oñate, 35, was waiting at El Dorado airport in Bogotá to board a flight to Montería, a city in the north of the country, for which he paid 53 dollars. “I want them to put me on another plane or pay for my ticket,” the man, who lives in the capital and had planned to travel to see his family, told The Associated Press.
According to what he said, Viva Air informed him two days ago that his flight would be postponed from five in the morning to the afternoon, however, he learned about the suspension from the media.
The Superintendence of Transport, the authority responsible for overseeing the sector, urged Viva Air on Tuesday to guarantee the rights of users by maintaining communication channels and immediately seeking the solutions “that the transport contract requires of them”.
La Aeronautica Civil indicates that LATAM, Avianca and Satena offer alternativas de transporte, sin costo adicional y de acuerdo a la disponibilidad que tengan, a los pasajeros que posean boleto o reserva confirmed de Viva Air para los días 27 y 28 de febrero y 1 Of March.
In the case of passengers bound for Lima and Mexico City, assistance will be provided free of charge by the airlines LATAM and Avianca. While the airlines Viva Aerobús, Volaris and Wingo will apply special rates for passengers to Mexico City and Cancun.
Viva Air represents approximately 20% of the market in Colombia with national and international flights and has 5,000 direct and indirect workers in the country.
Seven months ago, Viva Air and Avianca began a commercial integration process with Colombian Civil Aeronautics, which the airlines say would allow Viva Air to continue operations as a low-cost subsidiary of Avianca – which represents approximately 40% of the local market.
However, the process encountered obstacles and in November it was challenged by the Air Transport Authority because the alliance “tended to produce an undue restriction of competition” in the country, Civil Aeronautics explained in a press release on Tuesday. . After an appeal, the process was reactivated in January.
“Unfortunately, we are at this point due to repeated delays by Civil Aeronautics and its failure to recognize that what is best for Viva is also best for all Colombians,” the airline said in a statement. communicated.
Civil Aeronautics, for its part, defended itself by saying that it was efficient and rigorously respected the terms of the procedure.
The day before, Civil Aeronautics announced its decision to admit the airlines Ultra Air, Wingo, Aerolíneas Argentinas, LATAM and Jetsmart as third parties interested in the process after expressing their interest in participating because they are competitors on the market and the business integration process could affect them.
These airlines warned the Colombian authority that a possible approval of the integration could generate a high degree of concentration of the participation of the routes on which they will be in competition, a limitation of the access to the airport infrastructure of the Dorado airport or practices that generate “exclusion effects” such as offering low prices to create barriers.
Castlesouth Limited, holder of the voting rights on Viva Air, criticized the decision of the Colombian authority the day before and warned that if it does not act and Viva Air disappears from the market, “the Colombian government will have privileged the interests of the companies managed airlines of Argentina, Chile, Panama and the United States on those of Viva itself”.
