The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved Colombian airliner Avianca's reorganization plan, Avianca said on Tuesday, which will allow the company to complete its chapter 11 bankruptcy process before the end of the year, Reuters reported. Avianca, along with rival Chile's LATAM Airlines, were the two largest carriers in the region before the coronavirus pandemic, but both were sent into bankruptcy restructuring when the virus upended air travel, amid especially strict restrictions in Latin America. Avianca had already posted several years of losses before the pandemic began, and went through a boardroom coup in 2019 led by United Airlines. "The airline expects to successfully complete that process and emerge from chapter 11 before the end of the year as a financially stronger and more efficient airline," the company said in a statement. Avianca will have significantly less debt and more than $1 billion in liquidity when it finishes the bankruptcy process, the statement said.
