Venezuela Is Close to Recover its Prepandemic Transatlantic Network

[ News ]November 2, 2022 1:16 pm ET

By Aviacionline

In recent weeks, the transatlantic market in Venezuela has been steadily reactivated with the resumption of operations by multiple airlines. The country will offer 12,464 seats per week in December, representing a 95 percent recovery from pre-pandemic levels.

Almost all international carriers operating to the Atlantic have resumed operations, except for Air France which maintains its suspended services from Paris (CDG). Estelar has also maintained the suspension of its services to Europe.

Currently, the European and Asian countries authorized by the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) are Spain, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, and Iran. All these nations have a non-stop connection with Venezuela.

Spain, Venezuela’s largest European market

On Sunday October 30, Iberia resumed operations between Madrid (MAD) and Caracas (CCS) with three weekly flights, increasing the number of airlines on this route to four as Plus Ultra, Air Europa and Conviasa also operate the route.

By the end of November, Plus Ultra is expected to return to seasonal service between the Venezuelan capital and Tenerife – Norte (TFN). This will be the only non-stop service between the Canary Islands and South America.

Currently, Spain is Venezuela’s main international market measured in seats per kilometers (ASK). According to data compiled by Aena Estadísticas 240,255 passengers and 2,971.9 tons of cargo and mail were mobilized in 2019 between Madrid (MAD) and Caracas (CCS). The Venezuelan capital ranked #14 of the busiest Latin American routes from Adolfo Suarez International Airport (MAD).

Major changes

As Venezuela gradually opens its borders to other countries, several airlines have increased their capacity compared to that offered prior to the pandemic. TAP Air Portugal changed equipment from Boeing 767-300ER to Airbus A330-900neo, this represents a 13.7 percent increase over 2019.

Turkish Airlines resumed daily flights to Venezuela on the Istanbul (IST) – Caracas (CCS) route, including four weekly non-stop flights and three operations a week via Havana (HAV). The company also replaced the Airbus A330-200s that previously operated the route with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, representing a 20% increase in seating capacity compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Beyond long-haul operations from the Venezuelan capital, Porlamar (PMV) is receiving international services from Moscow by leisure operator Nordwind Airlines on Boeing 777-200ERs every 15 days.

With the recent addition of Airbus A340-600s to its passenger fleet, Conviasa is offering transatlantic services to Moscow – Vnukovo (VKO) and Tehran (IKA) on a twice-a-month basis. The Venezuelan flag carrier also plans to operate several charter flights to Doha for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

This article was originally published by Rainer Nieves Dolande on Aviacionline in syndication with AirlineGeeks.