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Bogota (AFP) – Hundreds of passengers were stranded this Tuesday, February 28, at airports in Colombia and Peru after the low-cost Colombian airline Viva Air suspended its operations due to financial problems. What’s happening?
Many travelers spent the night of Monday, February 27, at Bogota’s El Dorado airport and are sleeping on the floor while waiting for a flight that will take them to their intended destination.
“We had a flight to Cartagena (north) at 12:00 noon, yesterday trying to check-in we found out that the airline had apparently gone down (…) today we woke up in the morning, we came to see what happened and so far there hasn’t been much response,” Argentine Andrés Gilson, 30, who was waiting with his wife at the capital’s airport, told AFP.
In Medellín (northwest), Cali (southwest), Barranquilla (north) and other cities, rows and upset people are clamoring for a solution.
In the Peruvian airports of Lima and Cusco, more than one hundred passengers were blocked after the cancellation of their itineraries.
According to a statement from the Civil Aeronautics of Colombia, the companies Latam, Avianca and Satena will supply the canceled flights from February 27 to March 1 “according to the availability of seats, at no additional cost.”
The airlines Viva Aerobús, Volaris and Wingo will support passengers with canceled flights “to Mexico City and Cancun” with “special rates”, it added in another statement.
On Monday night, Viva Air announced the suspension of its operations in the midst of an insolvency process that it filed for at the beginning of the month.
“We are in an emergency situation”
With 15% of the Colombian market and a subsidiary in Peru, Viva Air has been seeking since April last year for the government to approve its integration with Avianca, the largest airline in Colombia with 32% of the market.
According to Viva Air, the merger is the only way out of the financial problems that it has been dragging on since the pandemic.
A hundred company employees protested in front of the Civil Aeronautics in Bogotá with slogans such as “Integration now!” and “Life for Viva”, confirmed AFP reporters.
“We are here (…) asking the Civil Aeronautics to approve an integration for us. We have been waiting for an answer for seven months and we have not received it,” Cristian Martínez, 37, a cabin crew member at Viva Air, assured in the middle of the demonstration.
In Peru, the Ministry of Transport and Communications announced on Twitter that “it will initiate an administrative process against Viva Air for the breach of the coverage service of its routes to and from” that country.
The companies Sky Airlines, Latam and JetSmart offered to cover the canceled itineraries in Peru, according to official information.
The Colombian Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, assured that it is Viva Air and not the affected passengers who must bear the costs of rescheduling flights.
“We are in an emergency situation (…) and there are several national and international airlines that have offered their planes,” Reyes said in an interview with Blu Radio.
Part of the Irelandia Aviation group, founder of other low-cost airlines such as Ireland’s Ryan Air and Mexico’s Viva Aerobus, Viva Air has a fleet of 20 planes and operates 35 routes, according to its website.
