On February 27, Viva Air has abruptly modified its operations both in Medellín and Bogotá hubs, cancelling international flights to Argentina, Perú and Brazil and some of its domestic connections to Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cartagena and Cali, in what can be interpreted as an early stage of a full operation shutdown.
Besides the cancelled flights, the company’s website is not allowing to purchase tickets.
As per information provided by the airport, only one flight to Bogota will departure on time, while all Viva late-night operations are cancelled. At the Colombian capital, situation does not seem to be any better: both Lima and Buenos Aires flights were cancelled.
While the cancellations may be related to the aircraft that the carrier was forced to return to the lessors, if the decision is to reduce Medellín domestic operations, a significant gap in Viva’s market share will be the unavoidable consequence.
With a 21 percent market share and seven million domestic passengers carried in 2022, Viva’s cease of operations -theoretical at this time of the night, but growingly feasible- will ripple throughout the whole Colombian commercial aviation industry.
This is a developing story.
