Simón Bolívar International Airport (Venezuela)

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Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" International Airport
Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar"
250px
IATA: CCS – ICAO: SVMI
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Instituto Autónomo del Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía
Serves Caracas, Venezuela
Location Maiquetía
Hub for
Elevation AMSL 235 ft / 72 m
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Website aeropuerto-maiquetia.com.ve
Map
Location of airport in Venezuela
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
10/28 3,610 11,483 Asphalt
09/27 3,270 9,930 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Total passengers 20,942,546

Simón Bolívar International Airport or Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" International Airport (IATA: CCS, ICAO: SVMI, Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetia "Simón Bolívar")[1] is an international airport located in Maiquetía, about 21 kilometres (13 mi) from downtown Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Simply called Maiquetía by the local population, it is the main international air passenger gateway to Venezuela among the twelve international airports in the country. It handles flights to many important destinations in the Americas, the Caribbean and some in Europe.

History

The airport opened in 1945 as the Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía.[2]

It was regularly visited by the Anglo-French supersonic airliner Concorde until the 1980s.

In the 1970s an international terminal was constructed to offer increased capacity with a domestic terminal opening in the 1980s. Since 2000, the airport has been undergoing major changes in order to meet international standards and to improve passenger traffic, security, immigration areas, and customs areas. Security measures have become top priority since the September 11 attacks, and now departure areas and arrival areas are completely split into the lower and upper levels of the airport.

As part of an expansion plan, new international gates are currently in construction, and a section of the parking area has been cleared to build an airport hotel. In the 1950s, under the regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, road transport between the airport and the capital was improved by the inauguration of the Caracas-La Guaira highway. However, the La Guaira and Caracas Railway, dating from the nineteenth century, was closed. In May 2007 a maglev train was proposed to link Caracas to La Guaira and Simón Bolívar International Airport.[3]

Airlines and destinations

Aerial view
File:Maiquetia 2011.jpeg
View of the apron
File:Simón Bolívar International Airport.jpg
Customs and immigration area
Check-in area

Passenger

Airlines Destinations Terminal
Aerolíneas Argentinas Buenos Aires-Ezeiza International
Aeroméxico Mexico City International
Aeropostal Barquisimeto, Cumaná, Maracaibo, Maturín, Porlamar, Puerto Ordaz Domestic
Air Europa Madrid International
Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle International
American Airlines Miami, New York-JFK International
Aserca Airlines Barcelona, Barquisimeto, Las Piedras, Maracaibo, Maturín, Porlamar, Puerto Ordaz Domestic
Aserca Airlines Aruba, Santo Domingo-Las Americas International
Avianca Bogotá International
Avianca Peru Lima International
Avior Airlines Barcelona Domestic
Avior Airlines Aruba, Curaçao International
Avior Regional Barinas, Valera Domestic
Caribbean Airlines Port of Spain International
Conviasa Barinas, Barquisimeto, Coro, Cumaná, El Vigía, La Fría, Las Piedras, Maracaibo, Maturín, Porlamar, Puerto Ayacucho, Puerto Ordaz, San Fernando de Apure, San Tomé Domestic
Conviasa Bogotá, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Grenada, Havana, Madrid, Managua, Panama City, Port of Spain International
Copa Airlines Panama City International
Copa Airlines Colombia Bogotá International
Cubana de Aviación Havana International
Delta Air Lines Atlanta International
Dynamic Airways Fort Lauderdale, New York-JFK International
Estelar Latinoamérica Porlamar Domestic
Gol Transportes Aéreos Punta Cana, São Paulo-Guarulhos International
Iberia Madrid International
Insel Air Curaçao International
Insel Air Aruba Aruba International
LAN Perú Lima International
LASER Airlines Barcelona, El Vigía, La Fría, Maracaibo, Porlamar, Valencia Domestic
LASER Airlines Aruba, Panama City, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo-Las Americas International
Línea Turística Aereotuy Los Roques Domestic
Lufthansa Frankfurt International
RUTACA Airlines Barcelona, La Fría, Porlamar, Puerto Ordaz Domestic
RUTACA Airlines Curaçao, Punta Cana International
SBA Airlines Miami, Panama City International
TAM Airlines São Paulo-Guarulhos International
TAME Bogotá International
TAP Portugal Funchal, Lisbon, Porto International
United Airlines Houston-Intercontinental International
Venezolana Cumaná, Maracaibo, Maturín, Porlamar Domestic
Venezolana Santo Domingo-Las Americas International

Cargo

The following airlines maintain freight operations to and from Simón Bolívar International Airport:[citation needed]

Statistics

Movements 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
National 9,568,754 7,256,934 6,208,000 5,796,629 5,277,907 4,863,991 4,559,247 4,621,254 3,781,682 3,547,602
International 8,253,471 4,699,244 4,222,000 4,115,214 3,552,781 3,909,470 4,081,752 3,668,783 3,251,037 3,224,981
Total 17,822,225 11,956,178 10,430,000 9,911,843 8,830,688 8,773,461 8,722,268 8,373,053 7,032,719 6,772,583
Source: IAIM[citation needed]

Other facilities

From 1960 to 1997, it was the main hub for Viasa, Venezuela's former flag carrier till it went bankrupt. Conviasa (Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos, S.A.) replaced it in 2004. The headquarters of Conviasa is located on the airport grounds.[4]

Accidents and incidents

  • On 27 November 1956, Linea Aeropostal Flight 253, a Lockheed Constellation, crashed while on final approach to Caracas Airport. All 25 passengers and crew on board were killed.[5]
  • On 12 December 1968, Pan Am Flight 217, crashed while on approach to Caracas. All 51 passengers and crew on board were killed.
  • On 4 December 1969, Air France Flight 212 crashed shortly after takeoff from Simón Bolívar International Airport. All 62 passengers and crew on board were killed.[6]
  • On Monday, November 3, 1980, a Latin Carga Convair CV-880 crashed on take-off from the airport, resulting in the deaths of 4 occupants, and total destruction of the aircraft. The aircraft involved, registration YV-145C, had flown from 1962 to January 1974 for Delta Air Lines of the United States and was retired by that airline, then sold to Latin Carga in 1979.[7]
  • On 16 October 2008 a RUTACA Airlines Boeing 737 went out of the runway while braking for arrival at 3:30 PM. It was flying from San Antonio de Tachira with 44 people. No one was killed or injured.

In popular culture

The airport is shown on the movie Menudo: La Película, when a pair of Menudo friends board a flight during the film's final scenes. The airport is also shown in the 1975 French film "Le Sauvage" [Call me Savage, UK Title] starring Catherine Deneuve, Yves Montand Luigi Vannucchi and Tony Roberts, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, as several key scenes were filmed at the airport.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Vías hacia la modernización 1935/1958. Historia de Venezuela en Imágenes. 1999
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-328B F-BHSZ Caracas-Simon Bolivar Airport
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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