El Grandioso: VIASA 1970-1986

By 1971 VIASA had been in operation for eleven years and had built up an excellent regional and long haul network that connected Venezuela to the world and made it one of the premier airlines of South America. It was also strongly profitable and ready to take the leap into the widebody era that its agreement with KLM offered it. The 1970s would prove to be the heyday of the airline as Venezuela boomed so did its national airline. Unfortunately the 1980s would bring some painful times for both country and flag carrier.

For part 1 of this series see: Pride of Venezuela: VIASA 1960-1970

Aeroclassics VIASA DC-10 and DC-8-50

VIASA's first widebody was another jointly operated half and half aircraft but rather than being a Convair 880 this time it would be a Boeing 747-206B. The aircraft was the last of 7 Pratt & Whitney powered 747s delivered to KLM and arrived in dual VIASA/KLM colours and named 'The Orinoco' on December 15, 1971. The aircraft began services on April 1, 1972 between Caracas, Madrid, Paris and Amsterdam and continued through until March 1973 on this routing. It enabled VIASA to claim the mantle of being the first airline in Latin America to operate the jumbo with its own flight and cabin crew.

PH-BUG at Amsterdam

In April 1973 the 747's routing altered to Caracas to Madrid, Paris and Amsterdam or Maracaibo to Panama, Milan and Rome. The aircraft rejoined KLM in late January 1974. Instead VIASA opted for the more sensibly sized option of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30. Once again it used its relationship with KLM and took two of its DC-10 orders for itself. In 1972/73 it had already acquired a pair of older ex-KLM DC-8-33s and then in 1974/76 took three ex-KLM DC-8-53s, which replaced its original pair of DC-8-54s, which were sold to AeroPeru.

The DC-10s seated 269 passengers and as well as operating the transatlantic flights were also used on services to Miami from both Caracas and Maracaibo. This route was known as the 'El Grandioso'. Washington D.C was also added to the route network in 1972. The first DC-10 was PH-DTG and she was joined by PH-DTF and then in 1975 PH-DTH. The DC-10s didn't gain their own Venezuelan registrations until 1977-79.

Venezuela had benefited from the discovery of massive oil deposits around Lake Maracaibo durign World War 1 and these had helped drive the nation's success, which had made it one of the richest countries in South America with some of the best living standards. The 1973 oil crisis was a boon to Venezuela as the values of its oil exports exploded, however this massive cash injection would sow the seeds of both VIASA and Venezuela's effective bankruptcy.

PH-DTH leased from KLM at Zurich in 1978. Photo by Eduard Marmet from Wikipedia

It's a little unclear exactly when DTG and DTF started flying on VIASA services

The oil boom coincided with the election of Carlos Andrés Pérez and his government lasted until 1979. The Pérez government undertook a policy of state nationalisation that saw huge swathes of Venezuelan industry fully nationalised. This included VIASA itself. Through the L.A.V shareholding in may 1976 the government share of the airline increased from 55 to 75%. The impact of this was the beginning of the end of the financially sound running of VIASA itself. I can't say better than the words of a Venezuelan poster from Airliners.net:

"The happy-go-lucky feel of Venezuelan bureaucracy then crept into the airline's labour ethic and it became a sad haven of gross mismanagement, nepotism, opportunism and open graft."

The airline began to lose its way and at the same time faced increasing competition from US airlines. The fleet continued to increase in size with a 4th DC-10, PH-DTL, joining from KLM in 1977. The pair of elderly DC-8-33s left the fleet in 1976/77 but 3 further DC-10s arrived in 1978/79 direct from McDonnell Douglas giving a fleet of 7 DC-10s, 2 DC-8-63s and 3 DC-8-53s. New destinations for the DC-10s included the holiday island of Porlamor from New York in November 1977, Santiago on December 1, 1978 and Houston on December 12, 1978.

Despite the fleet increase and state ownership the airline remained profitable until 1979. Indeed it has been profitable for every year of its existence up until then. The route of its first loss was not of the airline's own making. The crash of an American Airlines DC-10 at Chicago on May 25, 1979 forced the grounding of the entire worldwide DC-10 fleet for nearly 3 weeks. With such a large portion of its fleet made up of the DC-10 VIASA was disproportionately hit.

YV-132C wearing the updated scheme that appears to have been introduced around 1979. Photo by Alain Durand from Wikipedia

Nonetheless the airline recovered to one last year of profits in 1980 before plunging into a sea of debt that it was never able to recover from. This didn't stop the purchase of a pair of new McDonnell Douglas MD-80s, delivered in December 1982, but these could only be afforded until June 1984 when they were returned to their lessor.

One of the pair of short-lived MD-80s

One last flourish in 1982/83 was the seasonal lease of an ex-Braniff and Lufthansa 747-130 and a pair of World 747-273Cs to operate seasonal services to Miami, Orlando, Houston, Mexico and Toronto as demand warranted. Planes were hired for peak months (mostly July/August & December/January) and then returned to the lessor. For example, in the summer of 1982, VIASA offered a daily DC-10 Caracas-Maracaibo-Miami plus an evening Caracas-Miami 747 service 4 times a week that would overnight at MIA. Orlando would see 747 daytime flights 3 times a week.

N749WA a leased World Airways 747-273C at Miami in August 1981. Photo by Perry Hoppe from Wikipedia

Venezuela's spending and purchasing of interests to be nationalised led to the increase of national debt and when the oil revenue collapsed in the early 1980s the Venezuelan economy was crippled. The Venezuelan currency was steeply devalued on February 18, 1983 and Venezuela's place as one of the wealthiest South American nations began to slip. Standards of living fell dramatically. Over the next four years the Venezuelan Bolivar fell from 4:1 against the US dollar to 33:1.

The 747s were hired again in 1983 but that would be the last year they could be afforded. VIASA's debts began to accrue alarmingly and the airline lost $75 million in 1983 alone. The last two DC-8-53s left the fleet in March 1984 along with one of the series 63s. The last DC-8 was gone by August 1986. Even one of the DC-10s succumbed and was sold to American Airlines in June 1984. The fleet was reduced to just 6 DC-10-30s by the end of 1986.

Viasa DC-10-30 YV-133C at Faro in 1984. Photo by Pedro Aragão from Wikipedia

With the new austerity came other shortfalls. The airline was increasingly overstaffed but could not afford to pay the agreed pension funds with the unions. From 1983 no pension payments would be made creating a mountain of extra debt. VIASA would, as with so many other state owned national carriers from Africa and Latin America, become a bloated, debt riddled, inefficient carrier with an aged fleet, constantly on life support until its eventual demise in 1997. This is however not the airline that deserves to be remembered. For over twenty years VIASA was a beacon of stability and success for Venezuela and an airline truly to be proud of.

References

2001. Viasa Routes. Airliners.net
2006. What Happened To Viasa? Airliners.net
Davies, R.E.G. Airlines of the Jet Age: A History
VIASA. Wikipedia
VIASA. Timetableimages.com