Avianca has withdrawn from its planned merger with Viva due to "technical shortcomings" in the terms laid out for the deal to go ahead by Aerocivil, the Colombian regulator.
"After studying Aerocivil's resolution 873 of 2023 in detail, and noting that Aerocivil's conditions make Viva's recovery impossible and could even affect Avianca's stability, the company was unfortunately forced to desist from the integration," Avianca announced in a May 13 statement, in which it accused "other airlines" of playing a "detrimental role" in the outcome.
Avianca management said they saw "little regulatory flexibility to provide certainty about the conditions for reactivation of Viva's operations" in the regulator's proposals, which they added were not adjusted to "Viva's current reality and to the time elapsed between the start of the process on August 8, 2022 and the date of a firm decision."
"The conditions require Avianca to assume obligations, routes, and service and price level commitments that do not match Viva's remaining capacity after two months of suspended operations," Avianca said, adding that Aerocivil's proposals around the number of slots allocated to the former Viva would make it "economically unviable" and would and contradict "other conditions that require that Viva continue to provide connectivity on the historic routes where it was the only operator".
"Unfortunately, the conditions of this resolution, which is already a firm decision, make it impossible to rescue Viva by making it not only unviable as an airline, but also, if the integration were to take place under the conditions imposed by Aerocivil, it would jeopardise Avianca's stability and Colombia's connectivity," said Adrian Neuhauser, president and chief executive of Avianca, who warned Colombia could lose tourists to neighbouring countries.