Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela

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Aeropostal

IATA VH	ICAO LAV	Callsign Aeropostal
Founded		July 3, 1929
Hubs		Simón Bolívar International Airport
Focus cities / secondary hubs		La Chinita International Airport Santiago Mariño International Airport Arturo Michelena International Airport
Fleet size		32
Destinations		24
Parent company		Corporacion Alas de Venezuela
Headquarters		Maiquetía, Vargas, Venezuela
Key people		Nelson Ramiz, President & Owner Corporacion Alas de Venezuela
Website: Aeropostal

Aeropostal (Alas de Venezuela) is an airline based in Maiquetía, Venezuela. It is Venezuela's oldest airline which currently has regular domestic and international flights to different points in the Americas.

1 History
2 Destinations
3 Fleet
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Early in the life of commercial aviation, Venezuela did not have an effective communications network. This was due to a railway system that failed to criss-cross the country. Compounding the problem was an irregular topography that didn't make it any easier for vehicular traffic. Despite this, Venezuela was one of the last South American nations to resort to commercial aviation as an effective means of transportation.

In 1929, the French company Aeropostale (known as Lignes Aeriennes Latecoere until 1927), then under the leadership of its owner Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont, arrived in Venezuela. The country was virtually split in two by the Orinoco River, and at the time the southern portion was an area rich in gold and, later, a steel producer. All this starting at the port of Ciudad Bolívar, some 300 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, and close to Port of Spain. On the other side of the country is the city of Maracaibo, from which great quantities of oil are extracted and transported to refineries in the neighboring island of Curaçao.

In light of these conditions, Aeropostale viewed Venezuela as the ideal bridge to link South America with the Caribbean islands of Guadalupe and Martinique. This idea actually materialized on July 3, 1929.

Three Latecoe 28's carried out the first flights of the new airline, although some Latecoe 26's were also used in those earlier routes. On December 31, 1933, the Venezuelan government purchased the airline after the French government inexplicably decided to stop subsidizing it.

[edit] Life as a government owned company

Despite its new Venezuelan ownership, the airline continued to be run by French personnel under the direction of Robert Guerin until January 1, 1935, when its name was changed to Linea Aeropostal Venezolana (LAV) and operations shifted to Venezuelan hands under the management of commander Francisco Leonardi. At the start, the company was capitalized at 1,600,000 Bolívares, but it wasn't until May 21, 1937, that the government of Venezuela secured full ownership of the airline. It did so through an injection of capital and by replacing the Latecoe 28's with several Fairchild 71's. The expansion program was further reinforced with the purchase of six Lockheed Model 10 Electras. In 1939, LAV's headquarters were moved from Maracay to Maiquetía because to its proximity to Caracas. That same year, Douglas DC-3s were introduced in order to transport larger cargo loads and passengers. By 1942 the fleet had grown considerably. World War II increased the interest in air travel considerably, especially as South America and, particularly, Venezuela, had become one of the most important oil suppliers to the allied forces. LAV's first international flights began in July of 1945, serving the city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil. It wasn't really considered an internation destination as it was close to Venezuela's border. LAV's second international route was to Aruba in January of 1946. This route was connected to KLM's international route structure.

After the war ended, LAV re-equipped with newer aircraft, replacing it's Electra and Lodestar fleet which was decimated by many accidents over the previous five years. Douglas DC-3s and DC-4s were introduced along with Martin 2-0-2 twins. In 1947, the airline introduced Lockheed Constellations to fly a new direct international route from Caracas to New York's Idlewild Airport. This new service started on March 21, 1947.

In 1951, LAV began service to Lima, Peru and Bogotá, Colombia. The Bogotá route was acquired by LAV after they purchased 88% of TACA de Venezuela. Previously, TACA de Venezuela had a joint route agreement with the Colombian airline, LANSA. Until TACA de Venezuela was completely absorbed by LAV in 1958, the route to Bogotá was flown using TACA aircraft in TACA livery. During the 1950s, LAV opened a transatlantic service and began flying to Panama (in 1953). The Constellation fleet was upgraded to L-1049G Super Constellations. An order for the first jet airliner, the Comet 1, was placed with De Havilland, but with the Comet crashes of the 1950s, the airline never got their Comet jets. On March 24, 1956, LAV introduced its first turboprop, a Vickers Viscount 701 model which was to replace the older piston engined Douglas and Martin aircraft.

In the early 1960's, the Venezuelan government wanted to separate LAV's international and domestic routes, thus creating a new airline, Viasa, for international flights. A new livery was introduced for the new decade. The full airline title which had appeared on the Constellation fleet was simplified to a simple and bold AEROPOSTAL. The Connies flew with a flying globe logo on the nose, was also simplified, now appearing on the fin as a flying bird logo, a logo that would remain with the airline. Also in the early 1960s, the 'jet-prop' Avro 748 was introduced to replace the smaller piston twins that had made up LAV's fleet since 1938. Douglas DC-8 jets were introduced in 1961 to replace the Super Connies for international destinations as the airline kept pace with the latest in airline development.

During the 1970s and 1980s LAV continued to introduce new fleet types like the Douglas DC-9-32 and the DC-9-51.

[edit] Current history

By 1994, commercial operations had been closed as part of a government effort to trim expenses. This resulted in the company being sold to the Corporacion Alas de Venezuela in 1996, a privately owned company that re-started operations on January 7, 1997. Flights to the United States began in July 1998 and to Madrid in November 2001, although the latter have since ceased. In the late 1990s, Aeropostal introduced two US-regisitered Airbus A320s to fly alongside the fleet of DC-9 and MD-83 jets.

The airline is owned by Haydhelen Velazquez de Ramiz and Nelson Ramiz. It also has stakes in other airlines: AeroHonduras (45%) and AeroRepublica (33%).

[edit] Destinations

Further information: Aeropostal destinations

[edit] Fleet

The Aeropostal fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[1] :

Aircraft	#	Seats
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-20	1	90
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30	6	112
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30CF	1
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50	12	135
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	5	140
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	3	140
Boeing 727-200	4	152