With Aerocivil, the Ministry of Transport has assured that there will be routes with Avianca and Latam at no additional cost for those traveling to Lima, Mexico City and Cancun. (REUTERS/Luisa González)

The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aeronautics recently announced a new measure to deal with the crisis in the situation of Viva Air.

The measure concerns international flights to three territories of Mexico and Peru. According to a statement released by the wallet, alternatives will be activated at no additional cost for travelers who already had their tickets.

As mentioned by the entities, people with confirmed tickets or reservations for February 27 and 28 and March 1, 2023, they will be able to travel with other airlines without paying for another ticket.

The free alternatives are for travelers who had tickets for Lima, Mexico or Cancunaccording to the press release.

Citizens will be able to travel via airlines Avianca and Latam. This is a shared route service at no additional cost. The only thing that users need to take into account is that this alternative depends on the availability of seats per flight.

“Civil Aeronautics informs passengers who have a ticket issued or a confirmed reservation for February 27 and 28, and for March 1, 2023 with the airline Viva Air to Lima and Mexico City, that Latam airlines and Avianca offer the transportation alternative on shared routes at no additional cost, subject to seat availability,” the statement read.

Likewise, MinTransporte and Aerocivil have indicated that the airlines Viva Aerobús, Volaris and Wingo, to Mexico City and Cancun, will apply special fares to passengers who have a confirmed reservation with Viva Air on the base fare, valid from February 28 to March 15.

In the document published by the portfolio and the state control body for civil aviation, it is also mentioned that all the instances in charge of the matter will continue to be ready to respond to this emergency.

“The Civil Aeronautics Airport Intermediation Group will support the passengers concerned in the management, prioritization and orientation with airlines. The Transport Superintendency, with the equipment available at the airports, will support the relevant efforts, serving the users and providing the necessary advice,” the document concludes.

On the night of Monday February 27, Viva Air announced in a press release “the suspension of its operations with immediate effect”after the decision of Civil Aeronautics to recognize “the intervention of third parties interested in the Avianca-Viva integration process”.

“After more than seven months of delays by the entity, Viva has presented ample evidence to the Colombian government to demonstrate that it is in a critical financial situation, guaranteeing that the only way to continue flying is that the civil aeronautics allows it to be part of a stronger and better capitalized group of airlines”, contextualized the company.

“Instead, his decision today calls into question the future of low-cost air service in Colombia and jeopardizes the jobs of more than 5,000 Colombians, who depend directly and indirectly on Viva,” said added the airline.

This means that, from now on, low-cost planes will remain grounded, which is why hundreds of flights to and from Colombia have been cancelled. This situation generated chaos in different airports of the national territory, where passengers demand a solution. In international terminals, there have also been consequences for the cancellation of routes.

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