VIASA
| VIASA Venezolana Internacional de Aviación, Sociedad Anónima |
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| IATA code : | VA |
| ICAO code : | VIA |
| Call sign : | VIASA |
| Founding: | 1960 |
| Operation stopped: | 1997 |
| Seat: |
Caracas , Venezuela
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| Home airport : | Aeropuerto Internacional Simón Bolívar |
| Fleet size: | 13 (1997) |
| Aims: | Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Paris, Rome etc., regional destinations in the Caribbean, charter flights |
| VIASA Venezolana Internacional de Aviación, Sociedad Anónima ceased operations in 1997. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. |
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VIASA ( V enezolana I nternacional de A viación, S ociedad A nónima ) was Venezuela's national airline between 1961 and 1997 and one of the largest airlines in Latin America . The airline served almost exclusively international destinations from Caracas. In Europe, there were flights to Amsterdam , Frankfurt , London , Madrid , Paris and Rome , among others . Even if the color scheme has been adapted to that of the main owner Iberia in recent years , VIASA aircraft were known for their orange rear with white letters.
history
At the end of the 1950s there were considerations in Venezuela to merge the state airline Linea Aeropostal Venezolana with the private AVENSA in order to establish an airline of international standing. However, this plan was discarded and instead the international flights of Aeropostal were transferred to a new airline. 51% of the capital of the new airline comes from Aeropostal and 49% from private investors, including AVENSA, which was then still owned by Pan Am . An important goal was to operate the airline without government intervention if possible.
VIASA first appeared in November 1960 with the order for two Convair CV-880s . Flight operations began on April 1, 1961, some destinations in Latin America, North America and the Caribbean and some European destinations, by Douglas DC-8 of KLM were served. KLM made a significant contribution to the development of VIASA, among other things by setting up the technology in Caracas and pilot training for the long-haul aircraft . VIASA was the only Latin American flag carrier that exclusively operated jet airliners.
In 1963 the first DC-8s arrived, while in the course of the 1960s a number of Douglas DC-9s rented by AVENSA replaced the Convair 880 on the Caribbean and Latin America routes. Pool and partnership agreements (with BOAC and Alitalia among others ) expanded the European route network. During this time, a short-lived freight subsidiary called Transcarga was founded. In December 1968 the first long DC-8-63 arrived. In June 1969, the only Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle I was rented by AVENSA (license number YV-C-AVI) for one year and used in full VIASA colors on the Caracas-Maracaibo route.
In 1972 a Boeing 747-200 from KLM was leased to meet the strong demand on European routes. The " Orinoco " baptized machine was the first wide-body aircraft operated in South America. At the beginning of 1973, KLM rented a DC-10-30 . In 1974 the first DC-10s of their own followed, which came from a KLM order.
Even though Venezuela is an oil-rich country and was able to benefit from the crisis in the early 1970s, VIASA suffered from the drop in freight and passenger numbers. The company was nationalized after the loss-making business year 1975/76, which heralded its downfall. From now on VIASA slipped deeper and deeper into the red, but the Venezuelan government pumped more and more money into the flag carrier.
In the 1980s, the fleet was to be completely converted to DC-10, but other types of aircraft have since joined the fleet. At the end of 1982 two MD-82s (serial numbers 49103 and 49104) were delivered for routes from Miami to smaller Venezuelan airports such as Barquisimeto or Barcelona. However, these routes were discontinued in 1984 and the MD-80 returned. In 1985 the partnership with KLM was ended. 1987 saw the addition of two former Lufthansa A300B4 aircraft for the North American routes. Two more Airbus A300s were taken over from Eastern Airlines' inventory in 1989. In the late 1980s, two delivery options were secured for McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (serial numbers 48523 and 48524). However, both options were canceled after the takeover by Iberia and the machines were therefore not built.
In 1989, privatization was considered again and in 1991 the airline was sold to the Spanish Iberia . KLM also bid, but was not accepted. Iberia restructured the company, took over the VIASA's DC-10 fleet and lent it back to them. A new color scheme similar to that of the Iberia has been introduced. In Venezuela, this scheme was christened "Manolo painting", as Manolo is a typical Spanish name. The Airbus A300s were replaced by the former Iberia 727-200 , which could hardly compete with the more modern machines of American Airlines and United Airlines on the North American routes . Under the leadership of Iberia, the heavily deficit VIASA slipped further into the red. There was talk of a catastrophic communication between the leadership in Spain and the Venezuelan airline.
On January 23, 1997 VIASA finally ceased flight operations. Iberia integrated the aircraft into its own fleet. Even today, Iberia is considered the main culprit in Venezuela for the decline of the national airline, even if the Spanish airline was certainly not the sole cause of the misery. Many connoisseurs of the Venezuelan aviation scene see it as the greatest mistake not to have sold the airline to KLM in 1991, as KLM was viewed as a benevolent airline in the history of VIASA.
Since 1997 the international routes of VIASA have been taken over by other Venezuelan airlines.
fleet
The following aircraft were operated by or for VIASA:
- Airbus A300B4
- Boeing 727-256
- Boeing 747-130
- Boeing 747-206B (operated by KLM)
- Boeing 747-273C (operated by World Airways)
- Convair CV-880 (partly operated together with KLM)
- Douglas DC-8 -53/63 (partly operated by KLM)
- Douglas DC-9 -14 / 32 / 33RC (operated in part by Avensa)
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
- McDonnell Douglas MD-82
- Sud Aviation Caravelle (operated by AVENSA)
Incidents
Viasa recorded three accidents with total loss. 216 people were killed:
- On May 30, 1961, a DC-8-53 (operated by KLM , aircraft registration PH-DCL ) crashed into the sea five minutes after taking off from Lisbon Airport . All 61 people on board died. How the accident came about has not yet been clarified.
- On March 16, 1969, a DC-9-32 (operated by AVENSA, license plate YV-C-AVD , serial number 47243) crashed into a block on VIASA flight 742 immediately after taking off from Maracaibo Airport . All 84 people on board and 71 on the ground died. At the time, this was the worst airplane accident in Venezuela.
- On November 26, 1993, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (registration number YV-135C ) rolled over the end of the runway when landing at Buenos Aires-Ezeiza Airport in rainy weather and got stuck in the swamp. None of the 123 occupants were injured, but the plane was so badly damaged that it had to be written off.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ VIASA accident statistics , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 20, 2017.
- ^ Accident report DC-8-53 PH-DCL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 20, 2017.
- ^ Accident report DC-9-32 YV-C-AVD , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 20, 2017.
- ^ Accident report DC-10-30 YV-135C , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 20, 2017.