A History Of Colombian Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier Viva Air

Avianca put the final nail on Viva Air's coffin on Saturday when it announced it would not go through with the merger process.


Photo: Guillermo Quiroz Martínez via @gquimar.

On Saturday, the Colombian carrier Avianca announced it would not follow up with the merger process with Viva Air, which put an end to the twelve-year history of the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC). Viva Air had its first flight on May 25, 2012. The airline was originally part of the Irelandia Aviation Group, a developer of ULCCs led by Declan Ryan, one of the founders of Ryanair.

The beginning

A group of Irish businessmen first announced their intentions to launch an ultra-low-cost carrier in Colombia in 2011. By that time, the Colombian market was controlled by Avianca, the legacy company that emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in 2004. The journalist Rupert Stebbings wrote in his book “El Efecto Viva” that the consensus was that the new ULCC wouldn’t last a year in the Colombian market. How could it last when some carriers –Sam and Aces– had failed already and others –Aires and Aerorepública, now known as LATAM Colombia and Wingo– were struggling to keep up.

Viva’s original idea was pitched by William Shaw –he was later the CEO of Interjet and the founder of Ultra Air, two Latin American ULCCs that have also failed in recent years– Gabriel Migowski and the Japanese Shingo Kobayashi and Rhyan Uy. Then came the Irelandia Aviation Group. This company decided to invest in Colombia following the successful launches of Ryanair, Tiger Airways, Allegiant Air, and Viva Air’s Mexican cousin, Viva Aerobus.

First flights, fleet, and growth

Viva Air started with a fleet of four aircraft based at Medellín International Airport (MDE). Employing a fleet of Airbus A320-family-based jets, Viva began operating domestic flights in Colombia. According to an infographic posted by the airline in 2018 (before the company’s boom), Viva went from a fleet of four planes, 550,000 yearly passengers, and eight routes in 2012 to 20 aircraft, 22.5 million passengers in seven years, and 35 routes.

At its absolute highest in August 2022 (in operational terms, not financially), the airline scheduled 4,826 monthly flights on 114 city-to-city pairs. The route Medellín-Bogota was its workhorse, scheduling 248 monthly services. Other key routes were Medellín-Cartagena, Bogota-Cartagena, and Medellín-Santa Marta.

Internationally, the company operated 13 routes, with the most important being between Medellín and Cancún, in Mexico. Viva Air flew to Cancún, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Lima, Orlando, Mexico City, Miami, and Punta Cana.

The airline’s former Chief Executive Officer, Félix Antelo, spoke with Simple Flying during the 2021 Future Flying Forum. During a keynote interview, he explained that Medellín has a privileged geographical position in the Americas.

“We’re in the middle of the continent. And with our fleet, the A320neo, we are able to fly from the deep south of the continent, from Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Montevideo to Medellin, and from Medellin up to Toronto in Canada or New York, with only one stop. Some airlines already do that, and others fly non-stop, but they don’t fly at a low price.”

The airline even received authorization to launch many more international routes that never came to be. Some destinations that could have received Viva’s yellow-painted fleet include New York, Houston, and San Juan in the United States; Santo Domingo, Aruba, and Guatemala City in Latin America & the Caribbean, and more.

At its height, Viva Air Colombia had a fleet of 24 aircraft in 2021, including ten Airbus A320neo and 14 A320ceos. Viva Air Peru, the smaller brother, had a fleet of six Airbus A320ceos in 2020, according to data from ch-aviation. The company had an order for 50 new aircraft, which, in 2018, were expected to be received by 2023. Some of these jets did find their way to the Colombian carrier, while others have already found new owners (such as easyJet).

What went wrong?

During the keynote chat with Félix Antelo in 2021, Viva’s CEO said he believed the low-cost model would come out stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. To some extent, he was right. Volaris and Viva Aerobus in Mexico have grown their traffic figures by double-digits in the last two years. JetSMART opened a new low-cost branch in Peru and is currently in the process of launching a new branch in Colombia. Avianca emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a low-cost operator. Arajet began operations from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Sky Airline, JetSMART, Volaris, and Viva Aerobus have a combined unfilled order for 259 Airbus narrowbody jets. Still, Viva Air failed.

In August 2022, Viva Air and Avianca requested merger authorization from the Colombian authority. They said the move was made to rescue Viva Air, safeguard connectivity, and protect the air transport service. The process hit significant delays, blocking from other companies (including Ultra Air, another airline that ceased operations in 2023), and uncertainty. This led Viva Air to halt operations in February. It was a temporary solution while the merger process went on. Viva’s management said that the only way it could survive was through the integration plans with Avianca.

On Saturday, Avianca said it would not go through with its plans to merge with Viva Air. According to the company, the conditions set by the authorities required Avianca to assume obligations, routes, and commitments of service levels and prices that do not coincide with the remaining capacities of Viva. Adrian Neuhauser, President and CEO of Avianca said,

“Unfortunately, the conditions of this resolution, which is already the firm decision, prevent the rescue of Viva by making it not only unfeasible as an airline but, if integration takes place under the conditions imposed by Aerocivil, they would jeopardize Avianca’s stability and Colombia’s connectivity.”

History finds a way to repeat itself. In 2023, Viva Air –like many other failed Colombian carriers– announced its bankruptcy. It was unable to continue flying unless its merger process with Avianca was approved. Colombia’s civil aviation authority did approve the merger, but after a thorough review, a post-Chapter 11 Avianca decided not to go through with it. The final nail on Viva’s coffin was put, and the ultra-low-cost carrier, a company that attempted to fly high, turn Medellín into a continental hub, and bring the business model to the region, was laid to rest permanently.

The failure of Viva Air will undoubtedly be a cause for research in the coming years. Perhaps Viva Air attempted to expand

too aggressively in a post-pandemic environment. Maybe it was the lack of government support in the region, plus rising costs and volatile domestic currencies. Or it could be a sum of many causes leading to the failure of this airline.

Colombia now moves forward with two fewer airlines after the failure of Viva Air and Ultra Air. JetSMART Colombia is coming and could launch operations this year. The country’s civil aviation crisis has forced international entities, such as IATA, to urge the authorities to take action.