38
Transport
Clipping Viva’s wings
Questions surround the demise of low-cost airline Viva Macau, with the government saying it gave no direct order to Air Macau to cancel Viva Macau’s sub-concession contract. Macau Business has exclusive access to letters between the main players BY LUCIANA LEITÃO
declared bankrupt at a conference of creditors. But what led to its demise? Documents which Macau Business has had access to mention a decision by the secretary for transport and public works to ground the carrier. The government says this was just “a non-enforceable opinion” given to Air Macau (Viva Macau operated under the umbrella of Air Macau). At
V the conference of creditors on
September 13, the sequence of events leading to the grounding of Viva Macau was made clear. The Nam Kwong Group refused to supply fuel to the airline be- cause of unsettled debts. Air Macau then revoked Viva’s sub-concession contract.
OCTOBER 2010
iva Macau stopped fl ying in March this year. Last month the low-cost
airline was offi cially
The end came when the Civil Aviation Authority cancelled Viva Macau’s air operator certifi cate. Viva didn’t pay because it was hav-
ing diffi culties in getting credit. Accord- ing to what was said at the conference of creditors, this situation was partially due to the global fi nancial crisis. Viva was on the edge of a cliff.
What pushed it over? Three letters de- cided the airline’s fate, according to the documents seen by Macau Business.
Termination The president of the Civil Aviation Au- thority Simon Chan Weng Hong sent a letter to Air Macau chairman Zhao Xi- aohang on March 28. Within it, he in- formed that, “according to the decision of the secretary for transport and public
works, Air Macau must terminate imme- diately the sub-concession contract with Viva Macau”, claiming the company had constantly violated its public service obli- gations by cancelling fl ights and refusing to provide support and information for passengers carrying valid tickets. Mr Chan’s letter said that Viva had caused “irreparable damage
to pas-
sengers, [the] airport and the image of Macau SAR” and considering that “in case of sub-concession, Air Macau maintains all its obligations under the concession contract” Air Macau must terminate the sub-concession contract immediately. Air Macau holds the exclusive con-
cession to fl y all air services out of the city. It signed two sub-concession con- tracts and one joint-venture contract in
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148