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Caracas International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional de Simón Bolívar | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Maiquetía International Airport Autonomous Institute | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Caracas,Venezuela | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Maiquetía | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 235 ft / 72 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 10°36′11″N066°59′26″W / 10.60306°N 66.99056°W /10.60306; -66.99056 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | aeropuerto-maiquetia.com.ve | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
.svg)  SVMI Location of airport in Venezuela | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2022) | |||||||||||||||
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Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" International Airport (IATA:CCS,ICAO:SVMI, Spanish:Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar")[1] is aninternational airport located inMaiquetía,Vargas, Venezuela, about 21 kilometres (13 mi) west of downtownCaracas, the capital of the country. Simply calledMaiquetía by the local population, it is the main international air passenger gateway to Venezuela. After the termination of a vast amount of international routes in recent years it handles flights to several destinations in Central and South America as well as few services to Europe, Russia, China and Turkey.
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The airport opened in 1945 as the Maiquetía International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía).[2] The site had been recommended as an appropriate location for an airport byCharles Lindbergh on behalf ofPan Am.[3] The USA subsidised the construction of the airport as part of the Airport Development Program. Luis Malaussena was the architect who designed the original passenger terminal.[4]
It was regularly visited by the Anglo-French supersonic airlinerConcorde until the 1980s. Commencing in the late 1970s,Air France operated weekly Concorde service between Caracas and Paris via a stop atSanta Maria Airport located on the island ofSanta Maria in the Atlantic Ocean.[5]
Between 1952 and 1962, two new wings were added to the passenger terminal, and the runway was expanded to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). Lighting was installed on the runway and approach zones to allow night operations. In 1956 a new runway was built, and in 1962, it was expanded to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) long by 60 metres (200 ft) wide.
In the 1970s a new international terminal was constructed to offer increased capacity with a domestic terminal opening in 1983.Viasa used to be the flag-carrier of Venezuela ceased operations on 23 January 1997. 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, 2001 attacks, and now departure areas and arrival areas are completely split into the lower and upper levels of the airport. The Proyecto Maiquetía 2000 (Project Maiquetia 2000) was completed in 2007 which added new customs and immigration areas, a new cargo terminal, and a connecting passageway between the domestic and international terminal.
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 ofMarcos Pérez Jiménez, road transport between the airport and the capital was improved by the inauguration of theCaracas-La Guaira highway. However, the La Guaira and Caracas Railway, dating from the nineteenth century, was closed.
In March 2007,Iran Air introduced service to Tehran via Damascus.[6] It had acodeshare agreement withConviasa, which took over the route seven months later.[7][8] Conviasa ended its nonstop service to Damascus in August 2012.[9]
During the ongoingcrisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, domestic airlines are laboring under tremendous difficulties because of hyperinflation and parts shortages. Many international airlines have left the country.[10] International airlines that have left Venezuela includeAeroméxico,Aerolíneas Argentinas,Air Canada,Alitalia,Avianca,Delta Air Lines,Lufthansa,LATAM, andUnited Airlines, making travel to the country difficult. According to theInternational Air Transport Association (IATA), the Bolivarian government has not paid US$3.8 billion to international airlines in a currency issue involving conversion oflocal currency to U.S. dollars.[11] Airlines have left for other reasons, including crime against flight crews, stolen baggage, and problems with the quality of jet fuel and maintenance of runways.[12]
In 2016, the oldjetways in the international terminal were replaced with new glass-walled jetways.[citation needed] Following the increasing economic partnershipbetween Venezuela and Turkey in October 2016,Turkish Airlines started offering direct flights from December 2016 connecting between Caracas to Istanbul (viaHavana,Cuba) in an effort to "link and expand contacts" between the two countries.[13]
By 2018, terminals in the airport lacked air conditioning and utilities such as water and electricity. Flight crews are often sent to different cities to avoid crime that occurs in the area. The company charged with providing sanitation services ceased to exist, so cleaning no longer occurs as frequently at the facility. TheBolivarian National Guard, tasked with providing security, often extorts travelers by force.[14]
In support of President Nicolas Maduro's government,Russian Air Force aircraft, includingTupolev Tu-160 bombers, were deployed to the airport in early December 2018.[15] In March 2019, two Russian planes were deployed to the airport carrying 100 troops and 35 tonnes ofmatériel.[16] The Russian planes left the country 3 months later on 26 June 2019, according to the Russian embassy announcement.[17]
American Airlines, the last U.S. airline serving Venezuela, left on 15 March 2019, after its pilots refused to fly to Venezuela, citing safety issues.[18] Two months later, theUnited States Department of Transportation andDepartment of Homeland Security indefinitely suspended all flights betweenVenezuela and theUnited States, due to safety and security concerns.[19] The suspension affects mainly Venezuelan airlines that flew toMiami:Avior Airlines,LASER Airlines, andEstelar Latinoamerica.
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the government announced on 3 February 2020 that the country had imposed epidemiological surveillance, restrictions and diagnostic systems to detect possible COVID-19 cases at this airport and that Venezuela would receive a diagnostic kit for the virus strain from thePan American Health Organization (PAHO).[20]
Following the2024 Venezuelan presidential election, flights toPanama andDominican Republic were suspended on July 31, 2024.[21]
The following airlines operate regular scheduled passenger flights at Simón Bolívar International Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aerosucre | Bogotá[59] |
Since 2014, foreign and domestic carriers have reduced and/or terminated their presence due to political instability and their inability to recover US$3.8 billion[60] in funds owed to airlines. For fear of safety, some carriers have avoided overnight flight crews in Caracas, choosing to make a stop in a nearby country instead.[14][61] The chronology of terminations is as follows:[62]
| Airline | Destination | Flight frequency | Terminated/Suspended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerolíneas Argentinas |  Buenos Aires–Ezeiza | 1 flight per week | 5 August 2017 |
| Aeroméxico |  Mexico City | 3 flights per week | 23 June 2016 |
| Air Canada |  Toronto–Pearson | 4 flights per week | 18 March 2014 |
| Air France |  Paris–Charles de Gaulle | N/A | 24 September 2020 |
| Alitalia |  Rome–Fiumicino | 1 flight per week | 3 April 2015 |
| American Airlines |  San Juan–LMM | Daily flights | 1 July 2014 |
 Dallas–Fort Worth | 1 flight per week | 1 July 2014 | |
| New York–JFK | 5 flights per week | 4 April 2016 | |
| Miami | 2 flights per day | 15 March 2019 | |
| Avianca Costa Rica |  San José (CR) | Daily flights | 7 April 2014(1st) |
| Delta Air Lines | Atlanta | Daily flights | 16 September 2017 |
| Dynamic Airways | Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood | Daily flights | 13 August 2016 |
| New York–JFK | 2 flights per week | 1 August 2017 | |
| Insel Air |  Willemstad, Curaçao | Daily flights | 7 June 2017 |
| LATAM Brasil |  São Paulo–Guarulhos | 1 flight per week | 28 May 2016 |
| LATAM Chile |  Santiago | 2 flights per week | 1 August 2016 |
| Miami | 1 flight per week | 1 August 2016 | |
| Lufthansa |  Frankfurt | 3 flights per week | 17 June 2016 |
| TAME |  Quito via Bogotá | 4 flights per week | 3 February 2018 |
| United Airlines | Newark | 5 flights per week | 20 January 2013 |
| Houston–Intercontinental | Daily flights | 30 June 2017 |
From 1960 to 1997, it was the main hub forViasa, Venezuela's formerflag carrier until it went bankrupt in January 1997. It was also the hub forAvensa,Servivensa.Conviasa started operation in 2004, hoping to become in a big and leader airline, and flag carrier. However, due to financial crisis in Venezuela, several pilots quit and are leaving Conviasa in order to fly to other nations like Turkey which operates the same type of aircraft.[63][64] The headquarters of Conviasa is located on the airport grounds.[65]
The airport is shown in the 1981 movieMenudo: La Película, when a pair ofMenudo's friends board a flight during the film's final scenes. The airport is also shown in the 1975 French filmLe Sauvage starringCatherine Deneuve andYves Montand, and several soap-opera and movie key scenes were filmed at the airport.[citation needed]
Russia's Defense Ministry said a pair Tu-160 bombers landed at Maiquetia airport outside Caracas on Monday following a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) flight. [...] It added that a heavy-lift An-124 Ruslan cargo plane and an Il-62 passenger plane accompanied the bombers to Maiquetia.
