Felix Antelo resigned as president and CEO of Viva after five years in which he led it to exponential growth that seemed endless until the post-pandemic global context and the war in Ukraine complicated its financial situation to the extreme, coupled with Aerocivil’s delay in approving its integration with Avianca.
In a letter sent to Viva employees, Antelo said his decision was taken “because of my health, which has declined recently”.
“It is with great sorrow that I write this e-mail to tell you that today I have resigned as president & CEO of Viva,” Antelo’s letter begins.
“I joined Viva almost 5 years ago attracted by the project to drive the low-cost model in Colombia and Peru, and also in other parts of the region. Irelandia’s business plan, vision and ambition were determining factors at the time for me to join Viva. All that there was to do and to create and the possibility of driving the model in the region was very attractive and transformational,” he continues.
Antelo recounts how Viva was a much smaller company, but with enormous potential, which under his management renewed its fleet and opened routes in record time, improving performance to become one of the industry’s big players in the region until the pandemic hit and they were forced to ground their planes for six months because of government restrictions on air transport.
Even so, he notes, “Viva was undoubtedly the one that came through the pandemic best, by any metric – financial, market growth, passenger referrals, biosecurity certification, work environment – and it was in that period that Viva was able to make the most of the pandemic. And it was during this period that Viva proved its value and importance in the market, even becoming a sought-after airline and a brand we are very proud of”.
See also: Castlesouth: “Viva has reached a critical point”.
Antelo mentions that during the last year he worked hard to get approval for the integration of Viva with Avianca “to be part of a group of airlines that can compete from Colombia and from this region on an equal footing with the best in the world”, but that “unfortunately, the comings and goings in the process, the media noise and the lack of definition by the authority have stretched this far beyond what is reasonable”.
“We have done everything, absolutely everything in our power to achieve this approval, which I hope will come in the next few days, as the matter is of the utmost urgency,” continues the letter from the now former Viva CEO, insisting that “Aerocivil has all the elements, including a wide range of conditions, to make a decision right now”.
Felix Antelo’s career
The Argentinean-born executive took over as President & CEO of Viva in May 2018. He was previously CEO of LATAM Peru between April 2014 and April 2018, a company where he also held the position of Vice President Sales Long Haul between 2012 and 2014, VP International Sales between 2009 and 2012 and Commercial Director of LAN Argentina between 2005 and 2010.
Only A rat first leaves a sinking ship. Real captains take responsibility and go down with it seeing all employees are taken care of first.