Avianca, one of Latin America’s largest airlines, is emerging from bankruptcy protection after winning court approval for its reorganization plan a year and a half after the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the region’s air carriers, Bloomberg News reported. Avianca, which is headquartered in Bogota, said it is exiting the restructuring process after raising fresh investments of $1.7 billion. It also comes out of bankruptcy with “significantly” reduced debt and more than $1 billion of liquidity, the company said in a regulatory filing. Over the next three years, the 102-year-old company expects to expand to almost 200 routes in Latin America and the world. By 2025, it plans to have a fleet of more than 130 aircraft “with reconfigured, lighter-weight new-generation seats, which will allow Avianca to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations,” according to the statement. Avianca filed for chapter 11 protection in May 2020, after Colombia and other Latin American governments sealed borders and restricted flights in an attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus. Within weeks, two other major carriers in the region, Latam Airlines and Grupo Aeromexico, also filed for court protection.
