Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela

Infobox Airline
airline = Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela

---

logo_size =
fleet_size = 6
destinations = 24
IATA = VH
ICAO = LAV
callsign = AEROPOSTAL
parent = Corporación Alas de Venezuela
company_slogan = "Tu aerolínea" (Your airline)
founded = July 3, 1929
headquarters = Maiquetía, Vargas, Venezuela
key_people = Nelson Ramiz, President & Owner Corporacion Alas de Venezuela
hubs = Simón Bolívar Int'l Airport
focus_cities = La Chinita Int'l Airport
Santiago Mariño Int'l Airport
Arturo Michelena Int'l Airport
frequent_flyer = AeroPass
lounge =
alliance =
website = http://www.aeropostal.com/

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela, normally referred to as just "Aeropostal", is an airline based in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean area and to Colombia, Peru and the USA. Its main base is Simón Bolívar International Airport, Caracascite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work= Flight International | page= 49-50 | date= 2007-03-27] .

History

Early history

Venezuela was one of the first South American nations to resort to commercial aviation as an effective means of transportation. In 1929, the French company Aeropostale (known as Lignes Aeriennes Latécoère until 1927), then under the leadership of its owner Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont, arrived in Venezuela. Aeropostale viewed Venezuela as the ideal bridge to link South America with the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. This idea materialized on July 3, 1929. Three Latécoère 28's carried out the first flights of the new airline, although some Latécoère 26's were also used in those earlier routes. On December 31, 1933, the Venezuelan government purchased the airline after the French government inexplicably decided to stop subsidizing it.

Life as a government owned company

Despite its new Venezuelan ownership, the airline continued to be run by French personnel under the direction of Robert Guerin until January 1, 1935, when its name was changed to Línea Aeropostal Venezolana (LAV) and operations shifted to Venezuelan hands under the management of commander Francisco Leonardi. At the start, the company was capitalized at 1,600,000 bolívares, but it wasn't until May 21, 1937, that the government of Venezuela secured full ownership of the airline. It did so through an injection of capital and by replacing the Latécoère 28's with several Fairchild 71's. The expansion program was further reinforced with the purchase of six Lockheed Model 10 Electras. In 1939, LAV's headquarters were moved from Maracay to Maiquetía because of its proximity to Caracas. That same year, Douglas DC-3s were introduced in order to transport larger cargo loads and passengers. By 1942 the fleet had grown considerably. LAV's first international flights began in July 1945, serving the city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil. It wasn't really considered an international destination as it was close to Venezuela's border. LAV's second international route was to Aruba in January 1946. This connected to KLM's international route structure.After the war ended, LAV re-equipped with newer aircraft, replacing it's Electra and Lockheed Lodestar fleet which was decimated by many accidents over the previous five years. Douglas DC-3s and Douglas DC-4s were introduced along with Martin 2-0-2 aircraft. In 1947, the airline introduced Lockheed Constellations to fly a new direct international route from Caracas to New York's Idlewild Airport. This new service started on March 21, 1947.

In 1951, LAV began service to Lima, Peru and Bogotá, Colombia. The Bogotá route was acquired by LAV after they purchased 88% of TACA de Venezuela. Previously, TACA de Venezuela had a joint route agreement with the Colombian airline, LANSA. Until TACA de Venezuela was completely absorbed by LAV in 1958, the route to Bogotá was flown using TACA aircraft in TACA livery. During the 1950s, LAV opened a transatlantic service and began flying to Panama (in 1953). The Constellation fleet was upgraded to L-1049G Super Constellations. An order for the first jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, was placed, but with the Comet crashes of the 1950s, the airline never got their Comet jets. On March 24, 1956, LAV introduced its first turboprop, a Vickers Viscount 701 which was to replace the older piston engined Douglas and Martin aircraft.In the early 1960s, the Venezuelan government wanted to separate LAV's international and domestic routes, thus creating a new airline, Viasa, for international flights. A new livery was introduced for the new decade. The full airline title which had appeared on the Constellation fleet was simplified to a simple and bold AEROPOSTAL. The Constellations flew with a flying globe logo on the nose, was also simplified, now appearing on the fin as a flying bird logo, a logo that would remain with the airline. Also in the early 1960s, the 'jet-prop' Avro 748 was introduced to replace the smaller piston twins that had made up LAV's fleet since 1938. Douglas DC-8 jets were introduced in 1961 to replace the Super Constellations.

During the 1970s and 1980s LAV continued to introduce new fleet types like the Douglas DC-9-32 and the Douglas DC-9-51.

Current history

In August 1994, commercial operations ceased, as part of a government effort to trim expenses. This resulted in the company being sold to the Corporacion Alas de Venezuela in 1996, a privately owned company that re-started operations on January 7, 1997. Flights to the United States began in July 1998 and to Madrid in November 2001, although the latter have since ceased. In the late 1990s, Aeropostal introduced two US-regisitered Airbus A320s to fly alongside the fleet of DC-9 and McDonnell Douglas MD-83 jets.

The airline was fully owned by Corporacion Alas de Venezuela and had 2,319 employees (at March 2007). As of 2008 the airline was sold to a group of entrepreneurs from the state of Carabobo, Venezuela.

At the end of 2007, Nelson Ramiz (then CEO) reduced the fleet of 22 to only 3 claiming that the ­currency controls imposed by the Venezuelan government prevented him from maintaining the fleet, and that fare controls kept Aeropostal from making a profit. During that period, the Venezuelan Government planned on shutting down the airline if major changes were not planned.

The INAC (The Federal Aviation Administration of Venezuela) temporarily grounded Aeropostal operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in the high-travel holiday season.

The airline was then sold by Nelson Ramiz to a group of investors from the state of Carabobo, Venezuela. As of March 2008 the transition to the new administration has not been completed. The transition was completed in July of 2008.

Most routes were canceled temporarily due to the restructuring. CEO Jose Mustafa announced that at the end of 2008 all previous routes will be reinstated, and more routes added to effectively compete with the other Venezuelan airlines.

Incidents and accidents

Aeropostal has had a total of 24 accidents and incidents since April 23, 1937 with a total of 319 fatalities. The worst single aircraft accident for Aeropostal was on June 20, 1956, when 74 people were killed when a Lockheed Constellation, with call signs YV-C-AMS, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York. [http://www.baaa-acro.com/Compagnies%20L/Línea%20Aeropostal%20Venezolana.htm "Aircraft Crashes Record Office" (2006).]

*On July 29, 1984, Aeropostal Flight 252 from Caracas to Curacao, two gunmen, one Haitian and one of Dominican nationality, hijacked the plane with 82 people on board. The hijackers demanded money, weapons, and a helicopter to remove five children from the aircraft, and also threatened to blow up the plane if stormed. The plane was stormed by Venezuelan commandos of the DISIP, both hijackers were killed, and all hostages were released, ending the 3 day crisis.Fact|date=April 2007

*On March 6, 2008, an MD-80 (Tail Number N905TA) Aeropostal Flight VH501 from Miami to Caracas operated by Falcon Air Express was forced to land in Valencia International Airport at 10:30pm due to a suspected hydraulic leak in the right side.

Inflight magazine

"Pasajero" ("Passenger") is Aeropostal's in-flight magazine. It is published six times a year with a circulation of 20,000 copies distributed in all domestic and international Aeropostal flights. "Pasajero" is published by Playalens, Inc., a Hispanic-owned Miami-based publishing company.

Fleet

The Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela fleet consists of the following aircraft (at 3 July 2008):

*1 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
*4 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51
*1 McDonnell Douglas MD-83

In July 2008, the Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela fleet average age was 18.8 years. [http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/Aeropostal.htm]

References

External links

* [http://www.aeropostal.com Aeropostal official website]
* [http://www.pasajeromagazine.com PASAJERO, La Revista Oficial de Aeropostal]
* [http://www.ch-aviation.ch/aircraft.php?search=set&airline=VH&al_op=1 Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Fleet]