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The Macau government stands by its decision to revoke Viva Macau's operating licence as the troubled budget airline begins to wind down operations, blaming the government move.
Civil Aviation Authority president Simon Chan Weng-hong said it was a 'serious' decision to cancel Viva's licence.
Macau will 'certainly' pursue the repayment of a 200 million pataca loan to Viva despite the wind-down, according to government spokesman Tam Chon-weng.
Viva called the revocation of its licence 'globally unprecedented' in a statement announcing the closure of its office late on Tuesday night.
'As a direct result of the revocation of the Viva Macau Air Operator's Certificate - a globally unprecedented event in international aviation - Viva Macau is  seeking legal advice for an orderly and responsible winding down of the business,' it said.
The company stopped handling passenger inquiries and asked people to call the Macau Government Crisis Centre.
Viva spokeswoman Beryl Chen declined to comment on what will happen to the airline's employees. She also declined to comment on refund  arrangements for those who had paid for cancelled flights.
The crisis centre said it had spent three million patacas helping 820 affected passengers, including 360 Macau residents, since Viva began to cancel flights on March 26.
Viva, which operated under a sub-concession contract with Air Macau, the city's franchise airline, defaulted on fuel payments before being forced to cancel flights.
The Macau government granted Viva a loan of nearly 200 million patacas for the 2008-09 financial year. 
The government on March 28 revoked Viva's licence by asking Air Macau to end  the contract. It said it had  to protect the public interest and uphold the city's image as a tourist destination. 
Chan  accused the budget airline of being 'extremely unhelpful' and 'irresponsible', saying it failed even to provide a list of affected passengers when requested by the government.
Viva founder and president Ngan In-leng  last Friday threatened to sue the government for damages over the  licence issue.
He said the claim would include the 600 million patacas injected by shareholders into Viva last year and compensation for the damage to the airline's reputation.
Ngan said the government rushed to kill his airline just a day before it closed a US$30 million deal with a  foreign investor.  
He said the government knew  the company was on its way to getting a deal  when it revoked the licence.
Ngan said Viva Macau's sub-concession contract with Air Macau was a bilateral commercial agreement that neither Air Macau nor the government could end  unilaterally. 
He further challenged the decision's legality, saying Air Macau changed the reason  from 'a government order' in a letter dated March 28, to 'flight cancellations and failing to assist' three days later.



Viva Macau ruling a serious decision, says aviation chief