In the future, Avianca says it will continue to serve routes to and from Peru through its airline subsidiaries in Colombia, El Salvador and Ecuador, once the restrictions imposed by the authorities under the current health emergency are lifted. For customers with valid tickets purchased directly to or from Peru, several exchange, reaccomodation and voucher options will be available.

Process implementation

A General Shareholders Meeting of Avianca Peru agreed to proceed with a voluntary liquidation and dissolution of Avianca Peru. Currently, the liquidation proceeding is in process of liquidating liabilities and assets of such entity. Such process is under the supervision of Estrategia Consultores S.A.C, the designated independent liquidator. Although the agreement of the General Shareholders’ Meeting has already been published, its registration in the Public
Registry of Peru is pending due to the fact the offices in which said registration must be made are closed due to the state of emergency in such country. Under this liquidation process, the payment of social benefits of the employees of Avianca Peru will have priority within the framework of the liquidation. Avianca Peru employs 906 employees.

The airline previously stopped paying debt and certain expenses and had warned that it did not have enough cash on hand to continue making payroll. Pilots in Peru have already initiated labor actions against the airline, and the carrier faces public opposition in Colombia to a direct government rescue.

Those with claims against Avianca may contact Avianca’s claims agent, Kurtzman Carson Consultants, at www.kccllc.net/avianca. Information is also available by calling (866) 967-1780 (U.S./Canada) or +1 (310) 751-2680 (International), as well as by email at www.kccllc.net/avianca/inquiry.

The airline already stopped paying debt and certain expenses and had warned that it did not have enough cash on hand to continue making payroll. Pilots in Peru have already initiated labor actions against the airline, and the carrier faces public opposition in Colombia to a direct government rescue.

Those with claims against Avianca may contact Avianca’s claims agent, Kurtzman Carson Consultants, at www.kccllc.net/avianca. Information is also available by calling (866) 967-1780 (U.S./Canada) or +1 (310) 751-2680 (International), as well as by email at www.kccllc.net/avianca/inquiry.

“Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history as we navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CEO Anko van der Werff. “Despite the positive results yielded by our ‘Avianca 2021’ plan, we believe that, in the face of a complete grounding of our passenger fleet and a recovery that will be gradual, entering into this process is a necessary step to address our financial challenges.”

The airline will abandon Peru

In a press release issued Sunday, Avianca revealed that “In parallel to its Chapter 11 filing in the U.S., Avianca intends to commence a wind-down of its operations in Peru pursuant to local laws. This decision supports essential right-sizing efforts and will allow Avianca to renew its focus on core markets upon emergence from its court-supervised reorganization.”

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Avianca has filed motions with the US bankruptcy court to pay certain prepetition employee wages, compensation and benefit obligations owed from before the filing date, as well as a request to continue paying wages and honoring employee benefit programs in normal day-to-day operations. Avianca has also requested authority to honor various prepetition obligations owed to certain of its travel agency partners, vendors and suppliers from before the filing date. The airline says that it intends to pay vendors and suppliers, as well as travel agency partners in the ordinary course for goods and services provided on or after the filing date during its Chapter 11 process.

LifeMiles redemptions continue

Avianca states that passengers can expect to use tickets, vouchers and gift cards purchased before Avianca initiated this process. Avianca customers will continue to accrue miles when they fly with Avianca and can continue to redeem miles earned through LifeMiles to purchase tickets with Avianca during this process. Additional frequent flyer benefits remain active, including access to VIP Lounges, priority check-in, upgrades, and other benefits. Avianca also expects to continue to issue ticket refunds and honor travel coupons and payments or credits associated with baggage or service claims in adherence with its current policies. Lifemiles is a separate legal company from Avianca, and is not included in the bankruptcy filing.

Avianca has created an information site, aviancawillkeeponflying.com to provide the company’s position on the bankruptcy filing.

See Also: What might happen to Avianca? Will Copa purchase the Airline? (click)