Venezuela's efforts to reclaim more international air traffic are not coming easily as local airlines fight over a plan to revive bankrupt Viasa.
In February, Brazil's Vasp and local company Venezolana de Comercializacion unveiled a proposal to revive bankrupt flag carrier Viasa, with Vasp to hold a 49 per cent stake and the local company the remaining 51 per cent. Under the plan, Vasp and its local partner would provide $100 million in working capital, plus up to $40 million more to purchase assets, including a DC-10, Boeing 727, and airport terminal space. Venezuela's Category 2 status would oblige Vasp to operate its own aircraft on any Viasa flights to the US.
Luis Ignacio Mendoza, Viasa's ex-president, has reservations, however, about Vasp's proposal. Mendoza says that for the past six months he and a group called 'Grupo V2' have been meeting Vasp, proposing that Venezuelan investors, with foreign help, capitalise their new company which would then relaunch Viasa. But Mendoza says talks broke off as Vasp would not give a definite answer to ownership proposals and wanted total control.
Now Venezuela's Chamber of Air Transport Companies has brought legal action to block a sale of Viasa assets to the Vasp consortium on the grounds that any route sale would be illegal. The officials contend that Viasa's former routes reverted to the government with Viasa's bankruptcy and those routes should now be reallocated among other local airlines rather than sold.
Separately, Delta Airlines has finally won approval from Venezuela to launch flights in April, after inking a codeshare with Aeropostal on Delta's Caracas-Atlanta flights.
Source: Airline Business
