After 7 months waiting for a response from the Civil Aeronautics regarding the request for integration with Avianca; The night before, Viva Air communicated through a statement the decision to temporarily suspend operations nationwide.
The country woke up today without the third most important airline in Colombia; Therefore, hundreds of passengers have been affected by the decision taken by the board of directors of the low-cost airline Viva Air to end its operations in view of the fact that no financial rescue was found.
Many users of this low-cost airline who had their flight scheduled to national and international destinations have come to the air terminals looking for a solution; however, they have not received a response.
In the particular case of the Matecaña International Airport, the situation has been handled calmly, as reported by Francisco Valencia, manager of the Matecaña International Airport.
From early morning, passengers have begun to arrive at the air terminal in search of the airline; however, in the counter Viva Air has no staff; Therefore, the situation is being handled with the Civil Aeronautics and the Matecaña International Airport.
Due to the crisis that the country is experiencing due to the suspension of operations of Viva Air, the Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, called a meeting at 7:30 in the morning, with the purpose of coordinating a contingency plan with all the airlines and provide care to affected passengers. However, there is still no official statement from this portfolio.
THE AMOUNT
The airline Viva Air represents 37% of the national passengers that move through the Matecaña International Airport and 4% of the international passengers; This means that 24% of the daily operations of the air terminal correspond to the users who use this airline.
For this reason, Viva Air is very important for the region, therefore, the situation that the country is experiencing in terms of connectivity is very unfortunate. Therefore, it greatly affects passengers in terms of fares, considering that, due to its low-cost strategy, it is very convenient for the pocket of hundreds of travelers in the region.
According to the information provided by Francisco Valencia; Viva Air was going to mobilize around 1,700 passengers today through the Matecaña Airport; Five flights were scheduled to depart from there, two of them scheduled by a tour operator on a charter flight to San Andrés and Riohacha, and three regular routes to Bogotá, Rionegro and the Caribbean Coast.
Around 75,000 to 90,000 passengers move by Viva Air per month through the air terminal in the Risaraldense capital. “So the impact is severe,” said the manager of the Matecaña International Airport.
Therefore, from the Matecaña airport they have reported that they will be monitoring the situation.