Viva Aerobus advances in European certification of its crews

Viva Aerobus is advancing in the certification of its crews with the European Union authorities. The airline will incorporate aircraft from Avion Express under wet leasing to mitigate the grounding of a significant portion of its Airbus A320 neo fleet.

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Viva Aerobus’ solution received support from the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), but it was poorly received by industry guilds. The aircraft that are about to arrive are registered in Malta, so only crews certified by the European Union can operate the aircraft.

The Mexican low-cost carrier issued a statement in which Adrián Tarija, Viva Aerobus’ operations manager, confirms that they have made progress in certifying the airline’s crews with the European Union to fly on Avion Express aircraft.

«As we informed you last year, the operation of these aircraft is limited exclusively to personnel certified by the country of origin, which, in this case, has European registrations. Since then, we have focused great efforts to ensure that our own crews have the permits and validations from the European Union authorities, which is now a reality,» Tarija said in the statement.

«I want to recognize the hard work and dedication of our Viva People, who have adjusted and adapted changes in our processes, scheduled trainings, managed trips between Mexico and Europe, and ensured operational continuity,» added.

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Viva Aerobus will need to ground between 15% and 20% of its fleet to carry out a scheduled review of Pratt & Whitney engines. The process is expected to take place between 2024 and 2026.

Several aircraft will need to remain grounded for an extended period for the manufacturer to conduct thorough inspections. This is due to an anomaly in the powdered metal used in the manufacturing of some parts of the GTF engines produced between 2015 and 2021, specifically for models of the Airbus A320neo, Embraer E2, and Airbus A220 Family.