- Conviasa
-
Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos IATA
V0ICAO
VCVCallsign
CONVIASAFounded 31 March 2004 Hubs Simón Bolívar International Airport Focus cities Santiago Mariño International Airport Frequent-flyer program Infinito Fleet size 21 + 26 Destinations 21 + 8 Company slogan El placer de volar
(the pleasure of flying)Parent company Ministry of Transport and Communications Headquarters Simón Bolívar International Airport
Maiquetía, VenezuelaKey people Jose David Cabello Rondon, Minister of Infrastructure
Franklin Fernandez Martinez, President Conviasa
Pedro Saavedra, Vice-President ConviasaWebsite conviasa.aero Conviasa (Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos, S.A.) is an airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela, near Caracas.[1] It operates services to domestic destinations and to destinations in the Caribbean and South America. It plans to add destinations in Europe to its network. Conviasa is the second Latin American airline to fly to Asia, after Aeroméxico. Conviasa is under the authority of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.[2]
Contents
History
In January 1997, Venezuela's flag carrier, Viasa, ceased operations after 37 years of service due to prolonged financial problems. In May 2001, the idea to create a new flag carrier for Venezuela was proposed, but in December 2002, the project was put on hold until 1 October 2003. On 30 March 2004, the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, signed a decree that formally established the airline. This decree was published in the nation's official gazette the next day.
On 28 November 2004, Conviasa's inaugural flight was made with a De Havilland Canada Dash 7 aircraft flying from the airport in Charallave to the Santiago Mariño International Airport, on Margarita Island. On 10 December 2004, Conviasa formally began its national and international operations. Conviasa was originally run by the now extinct Ministry of Production and Commerce (Ministerio de la Producción y el Comercio), but it has since been taken over by the Ministry of Infrastructure.[3]
On 17 April 2006, José David Cabello Rondon replaced Wilmer Castro Sotelo as head of Conviasa. On 30 June 2006, Jose David Cabello Rondon replaced Ramon Alonzo Carrizalez Rengifo as the Minister of Infrastructure and on 18 July 2006, Franklin Fernandez Martinez became president of Conviasa.
The airline is owned by the Venezuela government (80%) and the regional government of Nueva Esparta (20%).
Following the Flight 2350 crash, on September 17, 2010, the Government of Venezuela grounded all Conviasa flights so that it could perform a technical review of the airline's fleet. The airline said that the temporary suspension would remain in effect until October 1, 2010. Flights have since been re-instated.
Decree No. 7838 of the Official Gazette No. 39,558 published on Wednesday, provides for the appointment of Colonel citizen (AVB) Jesús Rafael Viñas García, President of the Venezuelan Consortium Trading Company Aircraft Industries and Air Services SA (CONVIASA) under the Ministry of Popular Power for Transportation and Communications.
Destinations
Conviasa operates the following services (as of 15 July 2011[update]):
- Argentina
- Buenos Aires - Ezeiza Airport
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Spain
- Madrid - Barajas Airport
- Syria
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Venezuela
- Barcelona - Generál José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport
- Barinas - Barinas Airport
- Caracas - Simón Bolívar International Airport Hub
- Coro - José Leonardo Chirinos Airport
- La Fria - La Fria Airport
- Las Piedras - Josefa Camejo International Airport
- Maracaibo - La Chinita International Airport
- Maturín - Maturín Airport
- Mérida - Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso Airport
- Porlamar - Del Caribe International General Santiago Marino Airport
- Puerto Ayacucho - Cacique Aramare Airport
- Puerto Ordaz - Manuel Carlos Piar Guayana Airport
- Santo Domingo - Mayor Buenaventura Vivas Airport
- Valera - Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceno Airport
Terminated
- Iran - Tehran
Conviasa codeshares with the following airlines:
Fleet
The Conviasa fleet[4][5][6][7] [8]includes the following aircraft:
Conviasa Fleet Aircraft Total Orders Passengers Notes Airbus A340-200 1 2 286 Named "Simòn Bolívar El Libertador". The other two aircraft would be coming in early 2012 Airbus A340-500 0 4 TAB Ex Thai Airways International . these aircraft would be coming in mid-2012-2014 Airbus A340-600 0 2 TAB Ex Thai Airways International . these aircraft would be coming in mid-2014-2016 ATR 42-400 2 0 46 ATR 72-200 3 0 70 DHC-7-100 1 0 50 Cessna 208 0 4 TAB Boeing 737-200 6 0 108 All aircraft fleet will come out in 2012. Boeing 737-300 3 1 130 Only two aircraft are operating. an aircraft hangar and one on hold. CRJ700ER 4 0 72 Only three operational aircraft maintenance 1 Embraer 190 0 20 98-114 The first aircraft would be coming in mid-2012. Total 21 30 Conviasa received their first Airbus A340-200 on 11 May 2006 for its Caracas-Madrid route from Air Europa, but the plane remained unused for some time; it then operated the Caracas - Damascus - Tehran and Caracas - Buenos Aires flights.
The average age of Conviasa's fleet is 19.8 years.[9][10] Note: 1 DHC-7-100, 1 ATR-42, 3 ATR-72's, 2 Boeing's 737-300, 1 CRJ700ER have been out of service for longer than a year.
Incidents and accidents
- On 15 December 2005, Conviasa flight 2600, a De Havilland Canada Dash 7 with 36 passengers and 4 crew members on board, was forced to make a belly landing at Porlamar's airport when the landing gear failed to deploy. After circling Porlamar for an hour and a half to burn off fuel, the aircraft touched down without any injuries.[11][12]
- On 30 August 2008, a Boeing 737-200 took off from Caracas's Maiquetia airport, Venezuela, and was bound to Latacunga, Ecuador, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Quito. Three crew members (a captain, a first officer and a mechanic) were onboard. The plane crashed in mountainous area in Ecuador’s Andes, killing all the three people onboard. The Boeing 737 had been stored for a while at Caracas. It was being ferried to Latacunga, reportedly underway to a new owner.
- On 13 September 2010, Flight 2350, an ATR 42-300 (registration YV1010), with 47 passengers and 4 crew on board, crashed shortly before landing. It was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Del Caribe "Santiago Mariño" International Airport, Porlamar, Isla Margarita to Manuel Carlos Piar Guayana Airport, Ciudad Guayana.[13][14] There were 34 survivors and 17 fatalities.[15]
Headquarters
Conviasa has its headquarters on the grounds of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela, near Caracas.[16][17]
Originally Conviasa had its headquarters on Margarita Island.[18] At one time Conviasa had its headquarters in the East Tower of Parque Central in Caracas.[19]
Statistics
- Between 10 December 2004 and 26 March 2006, 324,671 people have flown on Conviasa (252,896 domestically and 71,775 internationally).
- Conviasa flies over 23,740 seats worldwide per week.
External links
- (Spanish) Conviasa
- (Spanish) Part one of the decree that created Conviasa
- (Spanish) Part two of the decree that created Conviasa
- (English) Conviasa (Archive)
- (English) Conviasa (Archive 2)
References
- ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 68. 3 April 2007.
- ^ "Organismos." Ministry of Transport and Communications. Retrieved on May 6, 2011.
- ^ http://www.conviasa.aero/interna.php?id=10
- ^ ConViasa Official Fleet page
- ^ http://www.ch-aviation.ch/airlinepage.php?code1=CVA
- ^ Planespotters.net page for Conviasa
- ^ Luzair official page
- ^ OAG Fleet iNet
- ^ http://www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/ConViasa.htm
- ^ http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Conviasa
- ^ http://www.primera-clase.com/2005/12/16/avion-de-conviasa-aterrizo-de-emergencia-en-aeropuerto-de-margarita/
- ^ http://www.rescate.com/conviasa.html
- ^ "Plane crashes in eastern Venezuela". BBC News Online. 14 September 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11289500. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "Crash: Conviasa AT42 near Puerto Ordaz on Sep 13th 2010, impacted terrain". Aviation Herald. 2010-09-13. http://www.avherald.com/h?article=430e1137&opt=4096. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
- ^ "(Spanish)Aumentan a 17 fallecidos por accidente de avión de Conviasa - El Universal Venezuela.". http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/09/14/suc_ava_aumentan-a-17--falle_14A4468055.shtml. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
- ^ "Contacts."[dead link] Conviasa. Retrieved on May 9, 2010.
- ^ "Sede Principal." Conviasa. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. "Av. Intercomunal Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía Edf. Sector 6.3, Zona Estratégica, Lado Este del Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía, Adyacente a Tránsito Terrestre. Venezuela."
- ^ Bloomberg News and Wire Reports. "GLOBAL BUSINESS." South Florida Sun. March 12, 2004. 3D. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. "Conviasa which will have headquarters on the tourist island of Margarita."
- ^ "Contactos." Conviasa. July 11, 2007. Retrieved on May 9, 2010. "Dirección Sede Principal Av. Lecuna, Parque Central, Torre Oeste, Piso 49, Caracas, Venezuela."
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