The Civil Aeronautics made a request for information to the new low-cost airline Ultra Air, so that it responds to a complaint from Avianca Groupin which he warns that the first company, which recently debuted in Colombia, is marketing flights without having approved the time slots for each operation, technically known in the airline industry as slots.
In a communication sent on March 17 by Alexandra Palomino Pineda, director of Air Transport and Aerocommercial Affairs of Aerocivil, the aeronautical authority gave this company 10 days to send its responses to two complaints of Avianca Group for alleged irregularities related to this aspect.
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The first occurred on February 22, when Avianca told Aerocivil that, after monitoring the Score system, it detected that Ultra Air had between February 21 and March 26, 131 flights marketed without the corresponding slots. approved.
Then, on March 10, there was a second complaint in this regard, since during the process of crossing information from this system with the flight offers made by Ultra Air, Avianca Group showed that from March to June there were 1,008 additional flights that were they are marketing by Ultra Air, without Aerocivil having yet endorsed their time slots.
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According to Manuel Ambriz, Commercial Vice President of Avianca Group, these flights are equivalent to about 200,000 seats in a very short period of time, a situation that could cause these travelers to be affected, with cancellations and delays, in the event that Ultra Air cannot end up operating. this offer as you sold it to your customers.
“They are marketing something that most likely will not be able to operate, unless the authorities give them the slots, but if the authorities are assigning them with the appropriate rules and with the agreed rules, that should not happen,” said the manager. .
“It’s not that we don’t want competition. What we ask is that the rules that have been given to us and the way to apply them have to be the same for all airlines”: Avianca Group
According to what EL TIEMPO learned, since February 25, in a communication sent by the Directorate of Air Transport and Commercial Affairs, Aerocivil asked Abel López Campo, legal representative of Ultra Air, that the company he represents complies with slot regulations. , which apply to all air operators in the country.
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“We request compliance with the regulatory provisions and, if applicable, withdraw from any platform or channel used for sales, the marketing of routes that do not have prior authorization from the Time Slot Planning Group to date,” ensure communication.
EL TIEMPO also consulted Ultra Air on the subjectbut from their press office they indicated that the new airline is preparing a response to the authorities in accordance with the procedure and that at the moment “we are not authorized to give statements to the media.”
Affects other airports and other travelers
According to Avianca Group, this type of situation has been reported for several months, which can not only affect the service indicators of the operator that fails to comply with the rules, but also has a significant impact on the departures and arrivals of the other airlines. who use the El Dorado airport,
For this reason, and given that El Dorado is the main airport for Avianca’s operations, the company decided to monitor the Score system and others all the time, in order to tell the Civil Aeronautics what is happening and it is only in those moments when The entity reacts and takes action, since part of El Dorado’s problem is the lack of control that the authority has over its operation during peak hours.
According to Ambriz, it is an affectation to the rules of the game with which all airlines must compete, but also by marketing more slots in schedules that are already congested, that It produces an affectation not only to the operation of El Dorado and its punctuality, but to the entire network of airports in the country.
“This is because all airports are closely linked to what happens in El Dorado and a bad operation can have a domino effect in Cali, Medellín, San Andrés or Cartagena,” he assured.
In addition, he said that from the client there are also impacts due to non-compliance with the rules of time slots, since the Travelers who have bought a ticket for one hour, probably end up seeing their flights canceled, and displaced for several hours later.
“It is not that we do not want competition. What we ask is that the rules that have been given to us and the way to apply them have to be the same for all airlines, whether they are new or centenary like us, or airlines with few planes or with many airplanes,” he said.
And precisely, according to Ambriz, exercising that right of competition and because customers are looking for options, good rates and travel schedules, Avianca Group is going to make a discounted rate available to the market in the event that a traveler, be it Ultra Air or another company, your flight is being changed, you will be given a 50 percent discount on the fare available at that time, upon proof of the impact.
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