Viva air canceled flights to Buenos Aires and Lima, passengers protest at El Dorado airport

On the night of February 27, 2023, the airline live air canceled its flights to various national and international destinations without notifying the passengers who had purchased the tickets and who were already at the airport.

Confirmation of the cancellation of the flights was given through the official accounts of the Twitter platform of the José María Córdova airports in Medellín and El Dorado in Bogotá.

The canceled flights from the capital of Antioquia were:

• 299 Buenos Aires-Argentina

• 461 Sao Paulo-Brazil

• 5632 Barranquilla

• 5573 Bogota

• 8192 Cartagena

• 5977 Cali

In the announcement from El Dorado Airport, the flights canceled by the airline were:

• Lima 431

•Buenos Aires 329

• Medellin 5572

Thanks to social networks, it was also known that the passengers of the airport of El Dorado were advancing a protest for the last minute cancellation by the airline and by what they have been affected.

User @Liss_Laguna shared a video where airline users can be seen angry at the situation, “Good evening, I want to report this situation that is being experienced at El Dorado airport, I don’t don’t tag viva Air because they delete my tweets, flights to Buenos Aires and Lima were canceled at the last minute, many people were affected.

By entering the website from the airline you no longer have the opportunity to buy tickets and, on the contrary, a sign appears where, from the same company and officially, they explain the reason for the cancellation of flights.

“We regret to inform the temporary suspension of our operations given the lack of timely definition of the Civil Aeronautics alliance between Viva and Avianca, the only possibility to continue flying and to respect our commitments. .”

Regarding the cancellation of flights already sold, Viva Air has confirmed that the planes will not take off, so it will inform “in due time” of the steps to follow to request the refund of the money or to be reassigned to another flight.

“We are advising passengers on current flights with Viva that we will not be able to honor their travel plans and are advising them in a timely manner of the next steps following this decision.”

In the afternoon of Monday February 27, 2023, the newspaper The Colombianannounced that the airline had a few hours of operation left in the country, given that the company’s board of directors would have authorized it to ground all its planes.

According to board members, the financial problems faced by the airline would not even allow them to continue the operation, adds the newspaper, which is still protected by Executive Order 560, a rule that would allow economic recovery, and paying 100% of the economic commitments that the company bears, the operation would give Viva Air a maximum of two weeks.

These would be the reasons why Viva Air would have taken the decision to leave its planes grounded from 11 p.m. on February 27, 2023, and why the entire air route would be canceled on Tuesday 28.

On the night of February 27, 2023, the airline shared a public opinion statement where it explained the reasons for the suspension of operations, as stated, for not having received an answer by Civil Aeronautics.

“As a team that has worked with the best #AtitudViva over these 10 years to ensure that our airline was the leader of the Low Cost model in the Colombian market, even after the devastating effects of COVID-19 in the industry, we want to declare that “no, we left a single stone to be lifted”, in the search for the approval of the alliance with Avianca”.

According to Viva, uniting with Avianca would allow it to continue offering passengers in Colombia low-cost access and efficient service, which is why, for the company, the lack of response from Civil Aeronautics led to the decision.

“Unfortunately, we are at this point due to repeated delays by Civil Aeronautics and their failure to recognize that what is best for Viva is also best for all Colombians.”