Consolidation and shifting operations offshore are the latest tactics adopted by Venezuela's privately-owned airlines as a means of coping with government restrictions.
Aserca, Venezuela's second-largest carrier, is taking over Santa Barbara Airlines. Aserca has announced it is only entering a "commercial alliance" but senior officials admit that the carrier is in fact buying Santa Barbara from Spanish-Venezuelan businessman Francisco Gonzalez. He has decided to exit the business in a decision widely viewed as being the result of Venezuelan government policies.
Initially, Aserca and Santa Barbara will keep separate brands with Santa Barbara operating long-haul routes, mostly to Spain and Portugal, and Aserca concentrating on the domestic and Caribbean routes. Some fleet rationalisation is likely. The takeover is subject to government approval.
In a separate move, Nelson Ramiz, Aeropostal's owner and an outspoken critic of Venezuela's policies, has bought bankrupt US airline Falcon Air Express. He plans to rename it Ufly Airways and combine it with his wife's Miami-based travel company.
Ufly will lease Boeing MD-80s that Aeropostal sought but failed to lease due to Venezuela's foreign exchange controls. Ufly plans to operate flights to many of the destinations from which Aeropostal has recently withdrawn. By shifting operations offshore from Aeropostal to Ufly, Ramiz will avoid Venezuela's restrictions, but will miss out on some of the burgeoning outbound traffic from Venezuela.
Tickets sold in Venezuela for international travel have become cheaper because of the government's foreign exchange controls, but those same controls have simultaneously fuelled domestic inflation. As a result, it has become cheaper to travel overseas than it is to take domestic flights.
Operating conditions for Venezuela's privately-owned airlines have grown increasingly difficult due to this inflation coupled with restrictions on foreign spending, fare caps, and the government's apparent favouritism for state-owned Conviasa.
Source: Airline Business
