After the suspension of flights of the airline Viva Airthe questions and requirements of its clients in terms of rescheduling, refunds and tickets are increasing.
While several other airlines extended their help to affected people with the rescheduling and transfers of their flights, This whole process, which has to move thousands of people, is not an easy task, let alone a quick one.
(You may be interested in: “Competition is taking advantage of the situation to charge more”: Avianca).
“Passengers who have flexibility can change their travel plans, but those who bought their ticket in advance because they have an important trip in the next few days, for example, an appointment or an event that they cannot change, may have to buy a new one. last minute ticket, much more expensive”, explained Romain Maciejewski, commercial director of the flight search engine Viajala.com.co to EL TIEMPO.
(Further: Superindustry takes over the offices of Avianca and Viva).
According to the portal, the losses of affected travelers can be 157% of the original price of the ticket value of the main routes covered by Viva. These would be the accounts:
A traveler who bought a one-way ticket from Bogota to Medellin paid for your ticket a value of 215,237 pesos. But if the passenger needs to buy that same ticket after the closure of Viva operations to travel in the next seven days, they will have to pay an additional 38%, since the lowest average price is 297,538 pesos.
(Also read: Avianca rendered discharges to the SIC for integration with Viva and this said).
This will also depend on the date, since the initial price can be increased by 147%, that is, about 554 thousand pesos.
“The same happens with a traveler who leaves Medellín and needs to arrive in San Andrés in the next few days. Those who made a reservation in January for this route, round trip, paid an average of 459,049 pesos. But if your flight was canceled and you cannot change your plans, you can pay around 1,180,000 pesos, also 157% more than the average price found in January.“, explains the analysis of the travel search engine.
(Keep reading: Due to the Viva crisis, intervening in the market is in the deck of options).
Maciejewski stated that Low or almost no competition caused ticket prices to skyrocket, since Viva Air had a great operation in Colombia and in the region; however, this suspension of the service could have consequences in the medium and long term.
“There is a significant economic impact due to maintaining the employment of thousands of people, but it also opens a space for other local airlines or for foreign companies such as JetSMART from Chile, which has already mentioned the possibility of buying Viva”, sentenced the executive.
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