On the last day that third parties interested in the integration process between Viva Air and Avianca could file appeal resources to the conditional approval that the Colombian aeronautical authority had granted, LATAM reported that it filed an appeal with Aerocivil, adding a stage to the already extensive administrative process.
According to the company, LATAM Colombia conducted a «rigorous analysis of the decision» and «believes that the slot conditioning (takeoff and landing slots) at El Dorado Airport still requires defining some criteria and elements in such a way that inefficiencies in their use are not generated, which could reduce the effectiveness of this measure as a remedy for the anti-competitive effects of the integration.»
The operator emphasizes that «despite the suspension of Viva Air operations for more than a month, this airline has not yet formally returned the El Dorado Airport slots to the aeronautical authority,» and points out that to date, Viva’s slots have not been reassigned to other operators.
LATAM’s passenger rescue operation scope in Colombia
The company also reported that it will «continue its work to offer connectivity alternatives for the country as it has done so far,» highlighting the addition of five Airbus A320s, equivalent to 210,000 monthly seats and a 20% increase in domestic supply.
LATAM Colombia emphasizes that it has hired 220 workers from Viva Air, including crews and maintenance technicians who attend to these five additional planes. The company adds in its statement that it has redoubled efforts to keep the Colombian Caribbean connected and supplied, increasing to nine daily passenger flights to San Andrés and operating eight cargo flights with its Boeing 767s, transporting 97 tons of supplies.
