Аэропосталь: История венесуэльской авиакомпании

Venezuelan airline

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela C. A. is a state owned airline of Venezuela based in Torre Polar Oeste in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean. Its main base is Simón Bolívar International Airport. The airline ceased operations on September 24, 2017, after 88 years of service due to its financial position. On August 8, 2018, the company announced that it would begin scheduled service again, first to Havana, Cuba with three weekly flights.

Venezuela was one of the first South American nations to resort to commercial aviation as an effective means of transportation. In 1929, the French company Aéropostale (known as Lignes Aériennes Latécoère until 1927), then under the leadership of its owner Marcel Bouilloux Lafont, arrived in Venezuela. Aéropostale viewed Venezuela as the ideal bridge to link South America with the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. This idea materialized on July 3, 1929. Three Latécoère 28's carried out the first flights of the new airline, although some Latécoère 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.

In August 1994, commercial operations ceased, as part of a government effort to trim expenses. In 1996, Corporacion Alas de Venezuela (CAV), a private company owned by Nelson Ramiz, a Cuban born US citizen and his Venezuelan wife, Haydhelm Emilia Valesquez Morales, bought the assets from the liquidator, at an auction in Caracas on September 27, 1997, in a transaction that led to litigation in New York and Caracas. The purchase was funded by an investment company Alas International Limited ("Alas"). Instead of delivering the purchased assets to Alas, as required by the funding agreement, CAV restarted airline operations on January 7, 1998, using the purchased assets without permission from Alas. Alas launched a series of lawsuits against Ramiz, Valesquez, CAV and Aeropostal and on November 2, 1998, the US Supreme Court of New York found in favor of Alas, a judgement later confirmed on appeal. The essence of the judgement was that neither Ramiz, Morales, CAV or the airline had any economic or legal interest in the various assets purchased in 1997, including the aircraft and the trade name "Aeropostal". As a result, CAV, the airline and Ramiz entered into a settlement agreement on February 29, 2000, filed and entered at the New York Supreme Court with Index No. 601817/97 under which title of the aircraft transferred to the Alas owners but Alas allowed the airline to continue flying the aircraft in return for various payments. CAV and Aeropostal subsequently defaulted on the settlement and further litigation followed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York under case reference 652688/2012, as a result of which, CAV and Aeropostal owe the successors to Alas very significant damages. As of March 2007, On August 8, 2018, the company informed to continue flights again, along with the opening of a route to Havana from Caracas with three weekly frequencies.

Aeropostal has had a total of 24 accidents and incidents since April 23, 1937 with a total of 319 fatalities. The worst accident for Aeropostal (and the worst scheduled airline accident in history until then) was on June 20, 1956, when 74 people were killed when a Lockheed Constellation, registration YV C AMS, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York. On November 27, 1956, Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253, crashed while on approach to Caracas International Airport. All 25 passengers and crew on board were killed. On January 25, 1971, Vickers Viscount (registered YV C AMV) crashed into a mountain near Mérida. Thirteen of the 47 people on board were killed. On November 1, 1971, Vickers Viscount (registered YV C AMZ) crashed shortly after take off from La Chinita International Airport, Maracaibo. All four people on board were killed. On August 27, 1972, Douglas C 47 (registered YV C AKE) suffered a failure of the port engine shortly after take off from Canaima Airport on a domestic scheduled passenger flight to Tomás de Heres Airport, Ciudad Bolivar. The aircraft crashed whilst attempting to return to Canaima, killing all 34 people on board. On August 14, 1974, Vickers Viscount (registered YV C AMX) flew into La Gloria, Isla Margarita due to rains caused by Tropical Storm Alma killing all 49 people on board. On March 3, 1978, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (registered YV 45C) crashed into the sea close to Punta Mulatos after an instrument problem. All 47 on boards were killed. On July 29, 1984, Aeropostal Flight 252 from Caracas to Curaçao, two gunmen, one Haitian and one of Dominican nationality, hijacked the plane with 79 people on board. The hijackers demanded money, weapons, and a helicopter to remove five children from the aircraft, and also threatened to blow up the plane if stormed. The plane was stormed by Venezuelan commandos of the DISIP, both hijackers were killed, and all hostages were released, ending the 36 hour long crisis. On March 5, 1991, Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 108 from Maracaibo to Santa Bárbara del Zulia crashed into a hillside after takeoff. All 45 on board were killed. On March 6, 2008, a McDonnell Douglas MD 82 (registered N905TA), which was carrying out flight VH501 from Miami to Caracas, was forced to land at the Arturo Michelena International Airport in Valencia due to the suspicion of a hydraulic leak on the right side of the aircraft. On September 26, 2011, a McDonnell Douglas DC 9 51 (registered YV136T) made a hard touch down at Puerto Ordaz causing both engines' (JT8D) pylons and support structures at the airframe to crack and distort nearly separating the engines from the airframe. The airplane slowed safely, stopped on the runway and was shut down. No injuries occurred, the aircraft received substantial damage. The passengers disembarked onto the runway.

Pasajero ("Passenger") is Aeropostal's in flight magazine published by Playalens, Inc., a Hispanic owned Miami based publishing company. It is publishing six times a year with a circulation of 20,000 copies distributed in all domestic and international Aeropostal flights.