Avianca has released the number of passengers rescued since Viva Air suspended operations. From February 28 to today, March 6, the Colombian flag carrier relocated 25,600 passengers on 45 additional flights.
Avianca came to the rescue of Viva Air passengers, as did other companies and the Colombian Air Force itself. More than 25,000 people were re-accommodated on both regular and special flights. Avianca’s priority was focused on the connectivity of the regions and users.
A total of 25,600 were relocated by Avianca, of which 22,100 had tickets for flights on domestic routes and 3,500 had tickets for international routes.
The Colombian airline made available 5 additional aircraft, with which it operated extra flights to the cities of San Andres, Santa Marta, Leticia, Medellin, Cartagena, Lima and Buenos Aires.
Avianca recommends that all Viva Air passengers who have confirmed tickets or effective reservations between February 27 and March 12, go directly to the airport counters.
Any relocation or rescheduling will be done free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis on Avianca flights according to availability.
And what about passengers coming from the USA to Medellin hoping to take a connecting flight to San Andres… what about this situation?? It would be another hardship to face.. we need more efficient measures to resolve this issue.
So the biggest shareholder of both airlines is Roberto Kriete. He bought all Declan Ryan’s shares. They both sit on the board of Avianca. So it hardly sounds like Avianca are heroes.