Aserca Airlines C.A. (legally ''Aero Servicios Carabobo C.A.'') was an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Venezuela. It operated domestic and regional scheduled services to destinations in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and Central America. Its main hub was at

Arturo Michelena International Airport Arturo Michelena International Airport is an airport serving the city of Valencia in Venezuela. The airport was named after artist Arturo Michelena, who was born in Valencia. It is a hub for Turpial Airlines and was once a secondary hub for A ...

History

The airline was established on March 6, 1968, as a private air transport company. Subsequently, on July 27, 1990, the Valencian businessman Simeón García, acquired all the shares and decided to direct it to passenger air transport. The airline started operations on September 4, 1992, with small aircraft for private transport. In 1992 it entered the domestic scheduled market with a leased Douglas DC-9-30. Aserca's operations were centered on Valencia, but it managed to develop Caracas as a hub after 1994 which, combined with the demise of flag carrier

Viasa Venezolana Internacional de Aviación Sociedad Anónima (), or VIASA for short, was the Venezuelan flag carrier airline between 1960 and 1997. It was headquartered in the Torre Viasa in Caracas. Launched in , it was nationalised in 1975 due to ...

in January 1997, made Aserca experience significant growth in its market share, expanding its network to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, via

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

. Between 1998 and 2000 Aserca had a controlling interest in Air Aruba, forming an alliance between both airlines. In September 2008, the airline created a commercial alliance with

SBA Airlines Santa Bárbara Airlines, also branded as SBA Airlines, was an airline with its headquarters on the third floor of the ''Edificio Tokay'' in Caracas, Venezuela. It operated scheduled domestic and international services. Its main base was Simón B ...

, also from Venezuela with whom it undertook international expansion through, unifying the corporate image of both airlines and coordinating their respective itineraries to improve their connection times between the flights of both airlines, to facilitate connections between the national destinations of Aserca with international destinations of SBA. The alliance, named ''Grupo Cóndor C.A.'', also collaborated with the Dominican airline PAWA Dominicana. In June 2013, Venezuela's

National Institute of Civil Aviation The National Institute of Civil Aviation (spanish: Instituto Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil, INAC) is a Venezuelan civil aviation agency. Its headquarters were in the ''Torre Británica'' in Caracas, Miranda, and it had offices in the ''Edificio ...

(INAC) announced that it would prohibit operations of classic aircraft types like the

Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell ...

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavier Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter ...

, and

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

in Venezuela from November 1, 2013. Aserca Airlines could obtain a special dispensation from INAC allowing the airline to operate its remaining two DC-9s until July 1, 2014, when it chose to replace them with the

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

. On February 21, 2018, it was announced that INAC had withdrawn the airline's operating license until further notice. The country's newspapers blame the lack of proof of insurance for the aircraft in the fleet. Aserca Airlines planned to restart operations. But on May 22, 2018, Aserca announced it had ceased all operations due to financial bankruptcy after returning its

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

.eluniversal.com - Aserca Airlines cierra operaciones en Venezuela
(Spanish) 24 March 2018

Destinations

Aserca Airlines served the following destination at the time of its demise:

Codeshare agreements

Aserca Airlines additionally had

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s with: * PAWA Dominicana (on routes to Antigua, Havana, Miami, Port-au-Prince,

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

and

St. Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean region of North America. With a population of 58,477 as of June 2023 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of ...

) *

Fleet

Final fleet

The Aserca Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of February 2018):

Former fleet

Over the years, Aserca Airlines has operated the following aircraft types:

Accidents and incidents

*On February 12, 2008, a Douglas DC-9-31 (registered YV298T) crashed on one of the runways of the Simón Bolívar International Airport, the aircraft left the hangar with its engines running and could not brake or turn, it crossed runway 09 when it fell into a channel in the area before reaching runway 10L. *On March 6, 2012, a

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

(registered YV348T) struck against five cows that were on the runway during landing at

Mayor Buenaventura Vivas Airport Mayor Buenaventura Vivas Airport , is an airport serving Santo Domingo in the Táchira state of Venezuela. The runway is just southwest of the town. The Santo Domingo VORTAC (Ident: STD) is located in the town. Airlines and destinations See a ...

, generating minor damage to the jet on the left main gear and left hand flaps. All 125 passengers and 6 crew were uninjured and the aircraft was repaired. *On August 24, 2012, a

(registered YV493T) ran off the runway on landing at

during heavy storms, sustaining minor damage. No injuries were reported. The aircraft was however withdrawn from service.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Portal bar, Venezuela, Companies, Aviation Defunct airlines of Venezuela Airlines established in 1968 Airlines disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Venezuela Venezuelan companies established in 1968