UPDATE - Colombian airline Avianca files U.S. Chapter 11 Friday March 21, 11:11 am ET (Adds more explanation for move, shareholders) BOGOTA, Colombia, March 21 (Reuters) - Colombian airline Avianca and its U.S. subsidiary have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in order to renegotiate $130 million in debt, a top official said on Friday. The company will also cut some routes to cope with the effects of rising fuel prices, more expensive insurance premiums and falling demand, said Juan Emilio Posada, the head of Alianza Summa, an airline alliance that includes Avianca. "The protection could last for months or years. We hope that in approximately eight months we will emerge again from the protection offered by Chapter 11," Posada told Reuters. Avianca's smaller partners in Summa, ACES and SAM, will not be seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which allows companies to propose a restructuring plan to a U.S. court while continuing to operate. Avianca, which joined up with its local rivals ACES and SAM last year to form Summa, dominates aviation in Colombia but has also been hit by a depreciation of the peso, which has pushed up its fuel costs. Deep political and economic crises in Venezuela and Argentina and Colombia's guerrilla war have also hurt demand for air tickets. Summa's majority shareholders are Colombian conglomerate Valores Bavaria (VBS.CN), which is in turn controlled by businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo, and the National Coffee Growers' Federation. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail