In the framework of the oiled relations between the aeronautical authorities of Venezuela and Qatar that were reflected last week after a meeting that took place in Caracas to advance an agreement that would result in the establishment of regular flights between both countries, Conviasa, the the state airline Venezuela, reached a new milestone yesterday by operating one of its Airbus A340s in Qatar for the first time.
See also: Venezuela and Qatar advance in an agreement to establish flights
The Airbus A340-300 registration YV3507 had taken off from Maiquetía International Airport at 10:04 pm on Monday, June 14, and after 14 hours 51 minutes of flight it landed at Hamad International Airport in Doha at 7:55 pm local time yesterday, Tuesday 15.
Through his Twitter account, the Vice Minister of Air Transport of the MPPT and President of Conviasa, Ramón Celestino Velásquez Araguayán, published a video of the landing from the cockpit in which spectacular views of Doha can be observed:
[videopress HFxDcSV6]The executive also stated that the flight had the objective of «strengthening bilateral relations between the two nations and offering them the Caracas-Qatar connection soon.»
Conviasa’s A340-300 did not stay there for long, since at 9:47 pm Doha time it took off for Tehran, where it landed today at 00:54 local time.
Even though the Venezuelan state airline never operated regularly to Qatar, it is not strange in the region given that a few years ago it flew to Tehran and Damascus, Syria, routes with a strong geopolitical reason rather than commercial one, as well as the recently inaugurated flights between Caracas and Moscow.
At the beginning of this year, from Conviasa they had stated that it was a priority to resume flights to Tehran and that they planned to reach China, for which in 2021 they would add another three Airbus A340s to their fleet, currently composed of an A340-300, an A340 -200, 16 Embraer E190s and 8 Cessna 208 Grand Caravans. Last week they also announced that an ATR 42-500 and an ATR 72-200 will be reinstated to commercial service.
#8Jun Nuestro destacado equipo de profesionales ejecutan trabajos de mantenimiento mayor tipo C a las aeronaves ATR42-500 y ATR72-200, estos aviones pronto se incorporarán a nuestra flota para seguir brindandole el mejor servicio a la población pic.twitter.com/jmHEv1VIQF
— Línea Aérea Conviasa (@LAConviasa) June 8, 2021
In addition to Moscow, Conviasa’s regular international network today reaches Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Quito, Ecuador; Cancún, Mexico; and Panamá, this as a result of the restrictions imposed by the Venezuelan government on the movement of people to contain the expansion of COVID-19 infections, among which is to authorize only regular flights to and from Turkey, Mexico, Panama, Republic Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Russia.
