Avianca hangs on as Brazil's air transport market heats up

Avianca Brasil, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December, experienced another setback this week when an appellate judge lifted a restraining order against the deregistration by Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) of some of the carrier’s leased Airbus A320s at the demand of unpaid lessors. Should the agency proceed with the deregistration before an appellate panel decides on extending the protection until a creditors’ assembly in the first half of April, the resulting loss of about 30% of Avianca’s fleet would mean chaos for the carrier and for passenger transport in general, just as the high-travel Carnival holiday approaches and as a new president struggles to bring order to his administration and the country. <br/>