On the morning of this Thursday, January 19, the Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil) confirmed that due to an irregularity in the file of the integration process between the airlines Avianca and Viva Air, the document had to be returned for correction. This means that, today, the airlines will continue to operate separately.
“The operators Avianca and Viva Air and other interested parties have been notified about the Resolution 0079 of January 18, 2023 in which the existence of an irregularity is established in the first instance that requires the return of the file so that the administrative action can be redone”, reported the director of Aerocivil, Sergio París.
The official of the air authority specified that the above means that the process I know will redo and not that there is finished.
Integration of Avianca and Viva would be annulled by the Ministry of Transportation
The minister, Guillermo Reyes, assured that a series of procedural irregularities have been found in the process, which would prevent the union of the airlines
According to Paris, the procedural error corresponds to the fact that the special competition protection regime was not applied that is required for said requests but, on the contrary, the analysis was limited only to the Administrative Litigation Code.
“Consequently, for this instance ignored the special administrative procedure established for this class of business integration requests (…) and, therefore, incurred a substantial irregularity”, is specified in a section of the Resolution.
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Due to the above, the file will be returned to the Directorate of Air Transport and Aero-commercial Affairs of the Civil Aeronautics for redo administrative actionand so apply “In its entirety the special procedure provided for in Law 1340 of 2009 and concordant norms”, it was explained in the resolution.
It is to be remembered that through the Resolution 2473 of November 4, 2022the Civil Aeronautics had rejected application of Avianca and Viva Air to merge under the terms of “company in crisis exception”referring to the latter to the low-cost airline.
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Aerocivil explained at that time that the decision not to approve the merger between the two airlines was taken to avoid a affectation in “free competition in the sector and the well-being of consumers. In short, because, with integration, the economic group would reach the 100% participation in 16 national routes.
The president and CEO of AviancaAdrian Neuhasercommented at that time that they would propose to the air authority a series of alternatives for it to reconsider the integration between the two airlines.
“We are open and willing to continue building the history of Colombia and to contribute to the strengthening of the air market so that the country is increasingly and better connected. For this reason, we put different alternatives on the table so that the authority can study them in light of protecting the largest number of formal jobs; maintain the regional connectivity offered by Viva; as well as your brand and what makes it special. All this, aimed at ensuring the general well-being of air transport users, especially those who have flown for the first time thanks to Viva”, stated the president and CEO of AviancaAdrian Neuhauser.
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In total, there were five alternatives that he delivered Avianca Group to Aerocivil, in order to allow them to merge with Viva Air. According to the airline, among the options were: decrease the participation of its operations in El Dorado; maintain the Viva brand and its model, the largest number of jobs, aircraft and connectivity; and protect fares on certain routes.
After the refusal of the Civil Aeronautics, on November 23, 2022, the two airlines presented a appeal, through which they once again requested the air authority to allow them to merge. Aerocivil had two months from that date to respond to the companies. That was how, this Thursday, the entity announced the annulment of the process.
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