Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority Approves Avianca & Viva Air Merger

On Monday, Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority (Aerocivil) confirmed its approval of the Avianca and Viva Air merger, following a stint of appeals by other airlines (including LATAM, JetSMART, and Wingo) and Avianca’s request to change some of the requirements set by the government for the merger to go through. Yesterday, Colombia’s Aerocivil released a statement confirming the approval of the merger procedure between Avianca and Viva. These two airlines first announced their intentions to join under one management last year. Nonetheless, the delays in the process, plus a complex financial situation, led Viva to cease operations in February 2023. Aerocivil approved the merger and established four conditions that must be addressed for the merger to go through. These conditions are: i) Viva’s passenger rights must be respected. They must receive full reimbursement for canceled flights or be relocated to new flights. Avianca is already doing this. Since Viva’s cease of operations, the Colombian airline has helped relocate over 150,000 passengers, most of them free of charge.<br/>ii) The two airlines must return some slots at Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport (BOG). This measure has to be taken to guarantee free competition and allow the survival of Viva Air, Aerocivil said. Nonetheless, it was not established in the press release how many slots should Avianca and Viva return.<br/>