In recent days Avianca has divided public opinion, on the one hand, the satisfaction of many at being one of the first airlines to resume flights yesterday, after five months of being restricted by COVID-19, and on the other the discussion by the 370 million dollar loan that the national government approved in order to preserve the national air service.
On this second point, although the Government argues that it is a measure that will protect many jobs in Colombia, it raises questions especially in the case of a company that a few months ago declared bankruptcy and whose tax headquarters is Panama. (Read here: Fenalco supports rescue of Avianca, proposes to extend it to other companies)
In an interview with El Universal, Anko Van Der Werff, president of Avianca explained how it affected the company not to fly for more than five months, how the flights will gradually resume and referred to the controversial loan with the Colombian government.
How much did Avianca affect these five months without operations?
Each company has its plans of what happens if X or Z, but a pandemic like this and a total closure of operations for five months nobody can stand it, this is incredible, unprecedented, very complicated. We have burned a lot of money, we have embraced Chapter 11. It has been a very strong impact for our people, the employees, who want to fly, who want to share our dreams with the passengers, but have not been able to, but hey, I focus on what that comes and is a step by step to take back the skies, more and more destinations, more and more flights, and for that we are happy.
What does it feel like today to return to the ring?
It is key, it is a very positive day for us, we are very happy, it is what we do and we want to share precisely this passion for our industry, the passion of connecting people, connecting cities, but obviously people with their families, with their companies. We are only starting, not with all routes, we are operating 50 flights, they are much less than the 700-750 that we operated before COVID-19, but it is a beginning.
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What can you say to the questions about the loan made by the Government? What guarantees are there?
Regarding the loan, I can say that it is exactly that, it is a loan, with commercial conditions, and that we are going to repay. I understand the discussion, I understand the arguments, because they are also arguments that we have seen in all countries, throughout the world. It should be noted that the case of Colombia is not unique, we have already seen that the governments of Singapore, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, England, the United States, have all supported their airlines, and why have all those governments? Here in Colombia, flying is important for connectivity, in such an important country, with so many people, with so many businesses, it is important. In addition, that for Colombia it is an essential service due to the geographical area in the country, it is important to have this treatment and for the country to have this connectivity.
We are not yet in a position to share all the details, but it is part of a much bigger package, hopefully this week we are finishing everything, we are in chapter 11 and we go to the judge, we go to the United States Court so that allow the loan, that’s why we can’t share these details yet.
What we have shared is that Lifemiles, the bank accounts, are precisely part of the contract that we have or that we will have when the judge approves it, they are important things. For example, the Lifemiles program is very successful, it has 10 million members, it is a very successful and profitable company and that is part of the agreement with the Government. I understand this discussion, last year Avianca paid 800 million dollars in Colombia alone, but also the most important connectivity is ours.
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