Viva Air worsens its crisis and grounds five planes: hundreds of passengers and 300 employees on hold

A drastic decision has been made live air in the face of the economic crisis it is going through. The airline has indicated that from February 21, 2023 they will stop workingr five planes and by the way 300 workers will be affected.

The company noted that after taking advantage of the Executive Order 560 for Disaster Recovery Process they introduced themselves important negotiations with the owners of the planes seeking to reach agreements, but despite this they were told by one of them that they had to ground five of the planes for the time being until further notice in the UNITED STATES.

This was confirmed by the lawyer. Carlos Roncanciowhich represents the trade union organization of Colombian workers in air transport, logistics and related services (Sintratac).

Roncancio assured RCN Radio that “Viva Air has been in defaultToday, the company is in very bad shape financially. We have learned that five planes are leaving tomorrow, with which practically 300 direct workers Their jobs will be affected.”

In addition, he pointed out that these planes that were leased will require pilots, flight attendants and technicians to stay cease in the performance of their duties.

“In the circle of company workers, this information is known, the airline will make the announcement in the next few hours,” he told the outlet, indicating that the airline’s 5,000 workers Viva are full of uncertainty about the possible disappearance of this source of employment. .

The lawyer noted that those 5,000 workers are directly and indirectly linked, since the company has been building for more than ten years formal and quality jobs, also adding the economic development that has allowed various regions of the country the possibility of providing access to air transport to all Colombians.

Due to, Latam Airlines disposed of their seats to rearrange Viva Air passengers who will be affected by the decision.

According to this, the relocation would be done in the seats available on Latam Airlines flights for passengers affected by a postponement or cancellation. who have a flight date between February 21 and 27and who purchased their tickets before February 20.

“This offer has been made available to Viva Air Colombia to help protect its passengers,” Latam said.

Regarding Viva Air’s request for integration with Avianca so that it does not disappear, and in which alleged interested parties have emerged (Latam Airlines and JetSmart), but which have not made formal proposals, Roncancio told RCN Radio that he was proposing to suspend trading for a week, in order to assess whether the Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil) You will have a favorable response to the integration request.

Also, if there was a demand, it would be subject to an additional waiting period to obtain the applicable regulatory authorizations, time that Viva Air does not have to stay on the market.

There Aerocivil announced how the integration process of Avianca and Viva Air is going. Through Resolution 300 of February 17, 2023established that the process will continue under Article 10 of the Law 1340 of 2009by which the rules for the protection of competition are enacted.

With this, he decided to communicate to the transport superintendenceas an entity exercising control and supervision, so that, if it deems it appropriate, it intervenes in the process in order to provide elements useful for the analysis of the planned transaction, warning that it will have a period of fifteen days, in accordance with the law.

Similarly, the aeronautical authority made Avianca and Viva Air run fifteen working days to rule on what was provided by third parties. And also, that the two companies have three days to decide on the alleged offers of interested third parties which should Aerolineas Argentinas, Ultra Air, Wingo, Latam Airlines and JetSmart.