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 and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

based in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

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

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

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 a secondary hub for Avior Airline ...

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 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

. Aserca's operations were centred 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 ( en, JSC Venezuelan International Airways), or VIASA for short, was the Venezuelan flag carrier airline between 1960 and 1997. It was headquartered in the Torre Viasa in Caracas. Launche ...

in 1997, made Aserca experience a 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 period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, via

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

. Between 1998 and 2000 Aserca had a controlling interest in

Air Aruba Air Aruba was the main air carrier from the island of Aruba. It was founded in 1986 and it declared bankruptcy in 2000. It was headquartered in the Brown Invest Building in Oranjestad, Aruba. History Air Aruba began in September 1986 as a gro ...

, forming an alliance between both airlines. In September 2008, the airline created a commercial alliance with

SBA Airlines Santa Bárbara Airlines C.A, doing business as SBA Airlines and formerly as ''Santa Bárbara Airlines'' prior to 2008, was an airline with its headquarters on the third floor of the ''Edificio Tokay'' in Caracas, Venezuela. It operated scheduled ...

, 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 PAWA Dominicana (legally ''Pan Am World Airways Dominicana'') was the international flag carrier of the Dominican Republic. It was created as a subsidiary airline for Pan American Airways. This airline had scheduled flights between Santo Domingo ...

. 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 Se ...

(INAC) announced that it will 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 by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

and

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

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 gene ...

. 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 returned 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 purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...

.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: *

(on routes to Antigua, Havana, Miami, Port-au-Prince, San Juan and St. Maarten) *

Fleet

Final fleet

The Aserca Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of April 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 al ...

, 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
{{Airlines of Venezuela Defunct airlines of Venezuela Airlines established in 1968 Airlines disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in Venezuela Venezuelan companies established in 1968