Colombian low-cost carrier Viva Air has announced in the past day that it will suspend operations immediately. This causes the company to cease all trading, resulting in one less carrier flying in the industry.
The airline planned a merger with Avianca, a much more present carrier. However, the airline has struggled due to delays in securing government approval. Now the civil aviation regulator Aerocivil has requested that they shut up shop.
This is an interesting development in what is being labelled by the airline as unprecedented. However, it might not be over for Viva Air. The airline will still work closely with regulators to preserve capacity and internally. They want to restart operations once more at a future date. However, there’s still Aerocivil that will have to give off the final approval.
However, there seems to be an ongoing distaste between the airline and the regulator. The airline says the regulator and government have been delaying the merger decision despite the evidence being provided, and it logically should’ve moved ahead by now.
Viva Air said they were working tirelessly to prove that the merger should occur. Submitting the documents back in 2022, at this point, the merger was rejected. However, now the decision should be readily available but has not yet been provided. It’s why the low-cost airline is confused about why it has had to reach this point. The airline has further called out the regulator by calling it incompetent.
Daniel Fowkes
01 Mar 2023
· Airlines
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