Avianca, the second-largest airline in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Sunday to reorganize its debt "due to the unpredictable impact" of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement issued in Bogota, Avianca said that along with "some of its subsidiaries and affiliates," it had asked to "voluntarily file for Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code" in a New York court.

The process allows financially struggling companies to reorganize and restructure their debt.

The airline's operations "have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic," as well as federal air travel restrictions.

The company "continues to have high fixed costs," the statement said. Avianca temporarily suspended all passenger operations in late March, following Colombian President Ivan Duque's decision to close the country's airspace as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020

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