BOGOTA. The Colombian airline Avianca announced this Saturday, May 2, that it will offer free return options to passengers affected by the closure of Spirit Airlines, after the American company announced the cessation of its operations.
“Given the situation that Spirit Airlines is going through, Avianca makes its network of routes and available seats available to the authority and affected passengers, in order to mitigate the impact and facilitate the continuity of users’ travel plans,” Avianca reported in a statement.
The company noted that the return options are subject “to availability and the conditions of this protection plan for passengers affected by Spirit who have already started their trip” and are having difficulties returning due to the airline’s bankruptcy.
The voluntary protection plan to relocate travelers with tickets free of charge between May 2 and 16, while LATAM Airlines indicated that it is working on a similar offer to expand transportation capacity.
Spirit, a low-cost airline based in the state of Florida, once had flights to and from the Colombian cities of Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Pereira and Bucaramanga, although in recent years it cut some of its frequencies due to the crisis.
The US will support passengers
The Administration of US President Donald Trump announced this Saturday aid for Spirit passengers and employees, after it ceased operations after failing to reach an agreement for a government bailout that would inject the money it needed to continue flying.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy reported in a statement that after conversations with American Airlines, United, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, Allegiant, Frontier, Avelo and Breeze, it was agreed to provide support in various ways to Spirit passengers.
Spirit raised eyebrows on Friday by announcing it would cease operations after a $500 million government bailout deal fell through.
The airline, which continued to operate under bankruptcy law, flew from the US to the Caribbean and a large number of destinations in Latin America such as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru, Mexico and Costa Rica.
Colombia activates plan
The Civil Aeronautics of Colombia (Aerocivil) activated a contingency plan this Saturday to serve some 10,000 passengers affected in the country by the immediate cessation of operations of the US airline Spirit Airlines.
“It is estimated that approximately 10,000 passengers are affected,” said the entity, which also indicated that the closure occurred in a different scenario than expected, as the airline promised to maintain until the last minute the operation in Colombia, where it has had connections with cities such as Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Pereira and Bucaramanga.
According to Aerocivil, Spirit has already begun notifying affected passengers by email about refund options, and has also enabled in-person channels for those with digital access limitations.
Given the contingency, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) will contact other operators to evaluate alternatives to support passengers, in line with the dynamics of the sector.
