Venezuela’s private airlines were shut down for nine months due to the government’s declining confinement due to the pandemic, and when it relaxed restrictions and finally approved flights, it closed routes with more demand a few weeks later.
Flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic, used by Venezuelans to make connections to other destinations, were canceled two weeks after the official resumption by order of the executive, which left only the lines open with Turkey and Bolivia, close allies of President Nicolás Maduro, as well as Mexico.
“Uncertainty does not stop and rather becomes pandemic in Venezuelan commercial aviation,” Humberto Figuera, president of the Association of Airlines of Venezuela (ALAV), told AFP, noting that the measure affects between 50,000 and 60,000 people inside and outside the country.
The Maduro government again restricted operations, which had been suspended since last March, a measure it justified by the increase in coronavirus contagions from abroad.
According to the latest official balance sheet released on Wednesday, of the 190 new confirmed cases, 20 were imported.
Unlike other countries, Venezuela did not deliver a relief package to the airlines, hard hit by the crisis before the pandemic.
And with this measure there was no choice but to stop and reorganize.
– “Tendency to close” –
Private-owned Avior received permission on Tuesday to make six flights between Caracas and Cancun with its Boeing 737-400, between December 25 and January 10, according to the document from the aeronautical authority it had. AFP access.
The line worked against the clock to receive the “slot” (place) in Mexico and hire a company to provide the service on land there.
Laser, another Venezuelan line, also announced flights to Cancun until January 14.
Venezuela’s air activity plummeted due to a massive exodus of airlines in 2013, unable to repatriate billions of dollars due to a ferry exchange control in force at the time.
There are currently nine Venezuelan flag lines operating, although most on charter flights and in all three authorized domestic destinations.
ALAV fears that the state-run Conviasa, the only one covering Bolivia, will build a monopoly. Although he will now share the route to Mexico with Avior and Laser.
Of the internationals, only Turkish Airlines remains, operating the route to Istanbul. Before the pandemic there were 10, including several European, as well as the Panamanian Cup, which closed the frequency in Caracas by order of government of its country.
Avior’s permission to fly to Mexico lasts until January 10, and then? Maduro has led to a radicalization in early 2021 in the face of increasing cases.
“I think there’s a tendency to close,” said Joan Bracamonte, president of Avior.
– Pilots cook to survive –
Moving a Venezuelan plane, Figuera noted, costs about $ 3,500 an hour and requires skilled personnel who, like airplanes, stood for months.
Except for the maintenance equipment, which did not stop, many pilots, overheads and ground staff are on unpaid leave or receiving less pay.
Juan José Castro is 53 years old, 30 of whom have been on board planes. He worked as a pilot for an airline, a cargo plane and today works in private aviation, stopped and with no prospects of reopening.
“Here he has been a total stop, very abrupt, and has affected a lot of families,” Castro said, assuring that his entire circle of friends is stopped like him.
“It’s one of the years I’ve been on the ground the most,” he added at home, where he has exploited his cooking skills – so far a hobby – to complete his budget, which has come to less: .
He sells ham bread, a complement to Venezuelan Christmas dinner, for $ 15 a unit, but can’t wait to ride it back in his Cessna Citation II.
Marián Gabazú, 20, works in a restaurant while the sector is reactivating and can reapply for an overtime job, a year after finishing the course at an academy in Caracas.
“I haven’t gone from filling out the form … but I’m not losing hope.”