Conviasa

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Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronauticas y Servicios Aereos

IATA V0	ICAO VCV	Callsign Conviasa
Founded		March 31, 2004
Hubs		Santiago Mariño International Airport
Focus cities		Simón Bolívar International Airport
Alliance		Air Europa (note: Air Europa is an associate member of SkyTeam)
Fleet size		13
Destinations		20
Parent company		Venezuelan Ministry of Infrastructure
Headquarters		Porlamar, Nueva Esparta, Venezuela
Key people		Jose David Cabello Rondon, Minister of Infrastructure Franklin Fernandez Martinez, President Conviasa Pedro Saavedra, Vice-President Conviasa
Website: Conviasa

Conviasa (Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronauticas y Servicios Aereos) is a Venezuelan state-owned airline based in Porlamar on Venezuela's Margarita Island. It plans to fly to international destinations in the Caribbean, South America, Germany, France, and Spain.

1 History
2 Destinations
3 Fleet
4 Incidents and accidents
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

[edit] History

In January 1997, Venezuela's flag carrier, Viasa ceased operations after 37 years of service due to prolonged financial problems.

In May 2001, the idea to create a new flag carrier for Venezuela was proposed. In December 2002, the project of creating Conviasa was put on hold until October 1, 2003.

On March 30, 2004, President Hugo Chávez signed a decree that formally established the airline. This decree was published in the nation's official gazette the next day.

On November 28, 2004, Conviasa's inaugural flight was made with a De Havilland Canada Dash 7 aircraft flying from the airport in Charallave to the Santiago Mariño International Airport, on Margarita Island.

On December 10, 2004, Conviasa formally began its national and international operations. Conviasa originally belonged to the now extinct Ministry of Production and Commerce (Ministerio de la Producción y el Comercio), but it has since been taken over by the Ministry of Infrastructure.

On April 17, 2006, Jose David Cabello Rondon replaced Wilmer Castro Sotelo as head of Conviasa. On June 30, 2006, Jose David Cabello Rondon replaced Ramon Alonzo Carrizalez Rengifo as the Minister of Infrastructure and on July 18, 2006, Franklin Fernandez Martinez became president of Conviasa.

[edit] Destinations

Further information: Conviasa destinations

Conviasa recently partnered with Air Europa and began codesharing its flight to Madrid five days a week using Air Europa's aircraft (Boeing 767-300 and Airbus A340-200) (Conviasa plans to fly to Madrid using their own aircraft three days a week).

[edit] Fleet

Conviasa's fleet includes the following aircraft (as of November 2006) ^[1] :

Aircraft	Number	Seats
Airbus A340-200	1
Boeing 737-200	2
Boeing 737-300	2	130
Boeing 767-300	1
ATR 42-400	4	46
Cessna 208	1
De Havilland Canada Dash 7	2	50

Conviasa received their first Airbus A340-200 on May 11, 2006 for their Caracas - Madrid route from Air Europa. Conviasa plans to add Ilyushin Il-96s for long-haul flights.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On December 15, 2005, a Conviasa De Havilland Canada Dash 7 with 36 passengers and 4 crew members was forced to make a belly landing at Porlamar's airport when the landing gear failed to deploy. After circling Porlamar for an hour and a half to burn off fuel, the aircraft touched down without any injuries.