- Former ALAV president stressed that increases in air frequency depend on the “political will of the countries”
Humberto Figuera, former executive president of the Association of Airlines in Venezuela (ALAV), mentioned some alternative routes that could serve travelers after the suspension of flights to the Dominican Republic and Panama.
Figuera explained in an interview for Union Radio On Tuesday, August 6, some alternative routes are Bogotá (Colombia), Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao.
He also considered that one solution to the increase in fares due to high demand for flights is to increase the frequency of flights to Colombian cities.
“This would be a good measure as long as both countries agree to increase the frequency of the airlines that are already operating or allow the entry of new players. All of this is possible if there is political will,” he added.
The expert said that it would be beneficial for Venezuela to increase flights to Curacao.
Could the end of air connections be reversed?
Figuera insisted that, although the suspension of flights to the Dominican Republic and Panama is a temporary measure, the decision to reverse it is up to the Venezuelan State.
“We don’t know how the State will behave. We imagine that if the government feels it has control of the situation, it will gradually open things up and normalize things because no one, not even the State, is interested in air connections being closed,” he said.
He also noted that air connections are important because they contribute to increasing tourism in Venezuela.
“It is also not in Venezuela’s interest, if it wants to project itself as a tourist destination, to close its air operations because potential tourists feel very vulnerable when making a decision to travel to a destination, no matter how attractive it may be,” he added.
Figuera clarified that the breaking of diplomatic relations between two countries does not necessarily imply the cancellation of air connections in terms of aviation.
“That is rather exceptional. One example that we have close to home is the United States and Cuba, which do not have diplomatic relations. However, there are incredible frequencies of flights leaving, not only from Miami, but from various destinations,” he said.
Why were flights to the Dominican Republic and Panama suspended?
On Monday, July 29th, National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) temporarily suspended commercial flights from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and Panama.
Authorities accused the governments of these two countries of “interference” for rejecting the results of the presidential elections issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), according to the OTHER on his X account (formerly Twitter).
The measure came into effect on July 31, 2024 at 8:00 pm (Venezuela time). This suspension of flights was extended to commercial airlines.
In Venezuela, one of the international airlines with the greatest presence in the air market is the Panamanian Copa Airlines.
In February 2023, the Panamanian airline was flying to 73 different destinations and celebrated 25 years of operations in Venezuela. During 2022, it registered more than 420,000 passengers transported to and from Venezuela.
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2024-08-07 03:44:01