Venezuela’s domestic aviation industry is suffering as Bolivar depreciating rapidly

Saturday, July 7, 2018

The domestic airline industry of Venezuela is struggling to maintain operations due to hyperinflation, shortages of spare parts and the local currency depreciation.

It is according to Aviation Industry Association of Venezuela, that the country has chronic flight delays. It is hard to obtain tickets.

The domestic air fleet has shrunk 80 percent since 2014 to around 20 functioning aircraft, the Venezuelan air industry association Ceveta says, leaving Venezuelans struggling to travel to visit relatives or receive medical treatment. That comes atop a steady withdrawal since 2016 of international airlines, many of which left Venezuela after years investing in what was once one of Latin America’s richest countries.

There are eight local airlines continue flying, the most active of which are Laser, Avior and state-run Conviasa, Ceveta President Jorge Alvarez.

He added that airlines have cut services because they cannot obtain dollars through the country’s currency control system. The Avior and Laser did not respond to requests for comment. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Ticket prices are fixed by the government in the local Bolivar currency while replacement parts must be purchased abroad in dollars. With the bolivar depreciating rapidly, airlines are left unable to afford the parts needed to keep up maintenance, Alvarez said.

For domestic flights, airlines now typically sell only one-way tickets. When people want to return home from a trip, they usually have to line up at the airport on the day they hope to travel.

Ismelida Fernandez said she flew to Caracas from Margarita Island with her sister to get treatment for a brain tumor and had to wait 24 hours to get a return ticket. President Nicolas Maduro blames the country’s crisis on an “economic war” that he says is orchestrated by political adversaries with the help of Washington.

The critics of the leftist president say the problems are the result of the government’s currency and price controls as well as declining production of oil, which provides almost all of the OPEC nation’s hard currency. These domestic airlines are not allowed to sell tickets for flights above the prices set by the government. Flights generally cost about half the price of a taxi ride to the airport. But getting hold of tickets usually requires buying them from intermediaries for more than double their list price.

Some local companies have sought to maintain their domestic operations by opening up foreign flights, which are paid in dollars, to compensate for losses on their domestic operations and to cater to people leaving the country for good. But Ceveta’s Alvarez said even with hard currency income, domestic airlines struggle to buy the parts they need because they cannot get credit. At the Maiquetia airport, groups of people routinely wait for two or three days, sitting on their suitcases or on the ground, in hopes of getting on a flight.

« Back to Page