An Airbus of linking the capitals Conviasa twice a month – the plane will never filled, it is expensive and lacks controls

November 23, 2009

Spanish source:

Airbus 340, the Venezuelan airline that covers the route Conviasa Caracas-Damascus-Tehran comes just two Saturdays a month and a half-empty cabin of hangars Simón Bolívar International Airport. There are no controls. Although the political ties between the governments of Iran and Venezuela, which made possible the implementation of this direct flight in March 2007, march increasingly good relations are not sufficient to fill the aircraft of 286 seats.

Tickets cost between 1,500 and 3,000 Euros, depending on season.

“It’s not a profitable flight, it’s for political purposes,” admits a senior airline

“There is never more than 140 passengers each time. The majority usually Venezuelan officials, Syrian and Iranian business immigrants, “says a former flight crew member who prefers to remain anonymous. Added to this, as in high season is December, the ticket costs about 3,000 euros, and in periods of less demand never falls below 1,500 euros. These prices are prohibitive for most Venezuelans.

However, the reservations office Conviasa argues that there is not a free seat on any of the flights for the entire remainder of this year.

“Undoubtedly, this is a flight route that has been devised for political purposes and therefore is not unprofitable. Since it began operations, the commercial management of the airline warned that it would generate huge losses. To us this route is expensive because the plane is used exclusively for this, “said a senior Conviasa. Every flight between Caracas and Tehran costs the Venezuelan State, 9,500 to 12,000 Euros. Any other airline that could take this flight to make connections to other destinations will cost 6,500 Euros.

Businesses that supposedly sustain the aircraft in the air are going from bad to worse. And after two years of accumulating mileage, the government of Hugo Chávez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will decide in December 2009, before the expiry of the agreement signed in 2007, if there are non-economic reasons to renew the alliance and Conviasa Persian Iran Air airline, that are worth the loss of thousands of Dollars to launch.

When the agreement became operational, the flight Caracas-Damascus-Tehran was leaving every Saturday afternoon Maiquetia International Airport, and was back on Tuesday at dawn. But a month ago, flights began to take place every two weeks. Initially, Iran Air operated the route with a plane owned for only two months thereafter, he began to use the Airbus-owned Conviasa.

The route has a total duration of 16 hours: 14 hours sailing between Caracas and Damascus, and two hours between Damascus and Tehran. Added to this, there is a stop between 20 and 27 hours. The most conservative estimates indicate that the total flight cost is 340,000 euros, which is not outweigh by far with ticket sales.

“From Venezuela to Syria the flight could be profitable because there were approximately one hundred passengers per flight, mostly Syrian residents of Venezuela. But between Damascus and Tehran only between 40 and 60 people travel and this does not justify even the flight, “added the head of the Venezuelan airline. Conviasa is the company created in 2004 to replace the defunct Viasa (liquidated in 1997) with the intention that Venezuela would again have an airline.

The transportation of goods from Venezuela to Iran or vice versa are not justified either; the agreement signed by Conviasa and Iran Air in 2007 does not include a “charge agreement”, which is why larger packages to be transported legally on this route are diplomatic bags.

The journey of two hours between Damascus and Tehran has not only aroused the suspicions of the international press, which speculated about the transport of uranium and military components in Conviasa flight, but also triggered the concern of the crew the airline.

In an internet page, created by the company to exercise “social control” and denouncing the “revolutionary infiltrators” in the flight, anonymous messages were received whose authors are identified only as hostesses, pilots and mechanics the airline; they reported, without offering evidence, that the Damascus-Tehran leg has illegally transported “radioactive material”. The Internet address was shut down because of these messages. Now the page reads “page moved”, and refers to the official website of the company, where Internet users are greeted with a nice slogan: “Conviasa … the pleasure of flying.

Translated from Spanish to English by Planet Iran staff
Copyright © 2009 Planet Iran. All rights reserved.