RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian airline will be able to operate a daily flight on this route once permits are in place. Steadily growing, Viva has now restored all of its pre-2020 routes, including increased operational capacity.
Viva has received the go-ahead from Colombia’s Civil Aeronautics Authority for third and fourth freedom of the air traffic rights. This means that it will be able to fly non-stop passengers both from Colombia to Brazil and back.
It is also allowed to transport cargo and mail between the two countries. The third and fourth freedom of the air are enough for the company, as Viva’s low cost model is based mainly on point-to-point flights. It can thus waive the right to the fifth freedom, which permits an intermediate stopover in a third country.
The Colombian airline had also previously intended to fly to Rio de Janeiro, however, everything seems to indicate that for the time being Guarulhos airport (GRU) is the one chosen by the low-cost airline for its first landings in Brazil.
Although they are two different business models, Viva’s arrival in Brazil from its hub in Medellín with its Airbus A320 ceo and neo aircraft, represents an additional Colombian option to Avianca’s existing flight schedule. The latter links São Paulo (GRU) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG) with Bogotá flying Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.
VIVA AIR
Fast Colombia S.A.S., trading as Viva Air Colombia and formerly VivaColombia, is a Colombian low-cost airline based in Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia. It is a subsidiary of Irelandia Aviation and third largest airline in the country.
It is not legally affiliated with Mexico’s VivaAerobús, a fellow low-cost carrier co-founded by Irelandia and uses the “Viva” brand. In November 2021, the Colombian airline entered an interline agreement with Mexico-based VivaAerobús.
The airline is part of the Irelandia Aviation investment fund. Irelandia a leading low-cost airline developer, led by Declan Ryan (chairman of the Viva Air group and one of the founders of Ryanair). Irelandia personnel have been involved in the development of six low-cost airlines around the world: Ryanair, Tiger Airways Australia, Allegiant Air, VivaAerobus, Viva Air Colombia and Viva Air Perú. Irelandia currently owns 100% of its shares.
In 2017, Viva Air Perú, a Peruvian subsidiary airline, was launched and with which the expansion process throughout Latin America continues.
In April 2018, it changed its name from VivaColombia to Viva Air Colombia to expand its model in Latin America and within its expansion plan Santa Marta was announced as the third center of operations in Colombia.
The operations center was enabled in October 2018 with routes that were not covered by other airlines such as Santa Marta, San Andrés, Bucaramanga, and Pereira. This operations center will be assigned two aircraft initially.