Línea Aeropostal Venezolana
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| Founded | 3 July 1929 | ||||||
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| Hubs | Simón Bolívar Int'l Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8 | ||||||
| Destinations | 11 | ||||||
| Parent company | Corporación Alas de Venezuela (Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela) | ||||||
| Headquarters | Torre Polar Oeste Caracas, Venezuela |
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| Key people | Eduardo Legaspi Zuazua, president | ||||||
| Website | www.aeropostal.com | ||||||
Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela, normally referred to as just Aeropostal, is a state-owned airline of Venezuela based in Torre Polar Oeste in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean. Its main base is Simón Bolívar International Airport, Caracas.
Venezuela was one of the first South American nations to resort to commercial aviation as an effective means of transportation. In 1929, the French company Aéropostale (known as Lignes Aériennes Latécoère until 1927), then under the leadership of its owner Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont, arrived in Venezuela. Aéropostale viewed Venezuela as the ideal bridge to link South America with the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. This idea materialized on 3 July 1929. Three Latécoère 28's carried out the first flights of the new airline, although some Latécoère 26's were also used in those earlier routes. On 31 December 1933, the Venezuelan government purchased the airline after the French government inexplicably decided to stop subsidizing it.
Despite its new Venezuelan ownership, the airline continued to be run by French personnel under the direction of Robert Guérin until 1 January 1935, when its name was changed to Línea Aeropostal Venezolana (LAV) and operations shifted to Venezuelan hands under the management of commander Francisco Leonardi. At the start, the company was capitalized at 1,600,000 bolívares, but it wasn't until 21 May 1937, that the government of Venezuela secured full ownership of the airline. It did so through an injection of capital and by replacing the Latécoère 28's with several Fairchild 71's. The expansion program was further reinforced with the purchase of six Lockheed Model 10 Electras. In 1939, LAV's headquarters were moved from Maracay to Maiquetía because of its proximity to Caracas. That same year, Douglas DC-3s were introduced in order to transport larger cargo loads and passengers. By 1942 the fleet had grown considerably. LAV's first international flights began in July 1945, serving the city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil. It wasn't really considered an international destination as it was close to Venezuela's border. LAV's second international route was to Aruba in January 1946. This connected to KLM's international route structure.
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Wikipedia