Avior Airlines

Avior Airlines

IATA ICAO Call sign 9V ROI AVIOR
Founded	September 3, 1994
Commenced operations	June 30, 1995
Hubs	General José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport
Secondary hubs	Simón Bolívar International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	AviorPlus
Subsidiaries	Pariana de Aviación
Fleet size	10
Destinations	13
Headquarters	Barcelona, Venezuela
Key people	Jorge Añez Dager (CEO and founder) Jose Sulbaran (President)
Employees	+1,800 (2020)
Website	www.aviorair.com

Avior Airlines C.A. (legally Aviones de Oriente C.A.) is an airline based in Barcelona, Venezuela. It operates scheduled and charter services within Venezuela and the southern Caribbean out of its main hub at Generál José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport. ^[1] It is currently the largest private capital airline in Venezuela in terms of fleet, destinations and its more than 1,800 employees nationally and internationally.

History

Founded by Jorge Luis Añez Dager and Rafael Ciarcia Walo, ^[2] the airline was established as Avior Express, and started operations on June 30, 1995, initially using a single five-seat Cessna Skymaster for charter flights to Margarita Island and Canaima. It is fully owned by Jorge Añez Dager. ^[1]

In 2009, Avior Airlines entered a temporary bankruptcy crisis, leading to the suspension of most of its routes as well as the sale of all of their 12 Beechcraft 1900D.

For 2012, Avior Airlines announced the creation of a new subsidiary, Avior Regional, that would cover the old routes suspended in 2009, as well as the purchase of 4 Boeing 737-400s for international flights. In 2013, the first of them arrived, as did the first Fokker 50 intended for Avior Regional. Due to delays in the process of getting the new airline certified by the National Institute of Civil Aviation, the Fokker 50s were employed by the parent company until mid-2015, when they were transferred to Avior Regional's fleet.

In 2015, Avior started an ambitious process of expanding its fleet and destinations, intending to encourage Venezuelan air connectivity, as a result of the reduction of flights from foreign airlines to the country.

On December 3, 2017, Avior was added to the list of airlines banned in the European Union, due to failing to meet the EU's safety requirements. ^{[3] [4]}

Destinations

As of November 2025, Avior Airlines flies to the following destinations: ^{[5] [6]}

Country	City	Airport	Notes	Refs
Colombia	Bogotá	El Dorado International Airport		[7]
	Medellín	José María Córdova International Airport		[8]
Curaçao	Willemstad	Curaçao International Airport		[9]
Venezuela
	Barcelona	General José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport	Hub
	Barquisimeto	Jacinto Lara International Airport
	Caracas	Simón Bolívar International Airport	Hub
	El Vigia	Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo Airport
	Las Piedras	Josefa Camejo International Airport		[10]
	Maracaibo	La Chinita International Airport
	Puerto Ayacucho	Cacique Aramare Airport		[11]
	Puerto Ordaz	Manuel Carlos Piar Guayana Airport		[12]

Fleet

Current

An Avior Boeing 737-400 landing at Miami International Airport in 2014

As of November 2025 ^[update] , the Avior Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft: ^[13]

Avior Airlines fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
			C	Y	Total
Boeing 737-200	2	—	12	96	108
Boeing 737-400	8	—	12	132	144
				138	150
Total	10	—

Former

A former Avior Beechcraft 1900D parked at Santiago Mariño Caribbean International Airport in 2001

Avior Airlines formerly operated the following aircraft:

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Aero Commander 500	1	1994	Unknown
Airbus A340-300	1	2016	2019	Transferred to Conviasa
Beechcraft 1900C	2	1997	1999
Beechcraft 1900D	12	1997	2010
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan	6	1998	2006
Cessna Skymaster	1	1994	Unknown
Dornier Do 28	3	1995	1999
Embraer EMB 120ER Brasilia	3	2001	2007	One leased from Avensa
Fokker 50	6	2012	2015	Transferred to Avior Regional

Accidents and incidents

• On July 15, 1998, a Beechcraft 1900D was hijacked by four armed masked hijackers during a domestic flight. The hijackers were among 22 people on board the aircraft, which was flying from Caracas to Barinas. The hijackers forced the plane to divert to a remote airstrip at a cattle ranch. The hijackers released the passengers and crew and took the plane to Colombia, where it was later recovered. ^[14]
• On July 30, 1999, another Beechcraft 1900D (registered YV-466C) was hijacked, this time by three men and two women. The aircraft was flying from Caracas to Guasdualito, via Barinas. Coordinates were given to the flight crew and landed the plane in Arauca, Colombia. ^[15]
• On January 7, 2009, a Boeing 737-200 (registered YV1360), flying from Oranjestad to Valencia, made an emergency landing after an engine fire was reported. The aircraft diverted to Simón Bolívar International Airport where the aircraft landed safely. ^[16] All 81 occupants on board were uninjured.
• On October 31, 2014, a Boeing 737-400 (registered YV2946) suffered a tire burst during takeoff at General José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport. ^[17] The flight crew aborted the takeoff and the aircraft stopped with a burst and deflated tire on the left-hand main landing gear. None of the 144 occupants on board were injured.
• On March 3, 2018, a Boeing 737-400 flying from Barcelona to Guayaquil ran off the runway during landing at José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport. No injuries were reported, and the aircraft suffered no structural damage. The causes of this inconvenience were mainly due to the wet track and the heavy rain that fell in the city.
• On November 22, 2019, a Boeing 737-400 (registered YV3012) was servicing a flight between Valencia and Bogotá. Upon landing at El Dorado International Airport, its right main landing gear suffered a serious malfunction, causing it to collapse, which led to an evacuation once the aircraft came to a halt. ^{[18] [19]}
• On December 6, 2019, a Boeing 737-400 (registered YV3011) took off at 8AM flying from Lima to Caracas when it suffered a depressurization 45 minutes after takeoff. ^[20] There were 133 passengers and 8 crew members on board. Some passengers suffered a lack of oxygen, including a six-month-old child. The aircraft had to make a sharp descent landing emergency in the city of Tarapoto, Peru. The airline enabled an aircraft to comply with the scheduled itinerary.

See also

• List of airlines of Venezuela
• List of airlines banned in the European Union

References

1. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International . 2007-03-27. pp. 82–83.
2. "Vuelos y opiniones sobre Avior Airlines". Europe Low Cost. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
3. "Avior Airlines added to European black list - ASN News". 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
4. "Venezuelan Airline Barred from European Union Skies". Woanews.com. 30 November 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
5. "National Destinations".
6. "'International Destinations".
7. "Avior Airlines reanudará sus vuelos entre Caracas y Bogotá en Marzo". Aviacionaldia.com (in Spanish). December 26, 2023.
8. "Avior Airlines to resume flights between Caracas and Medellín in May". Aviacionaldia.com. April 1, 2024.
9. "Avior Airlines conectará a Venezuela con Curazao a partir del #4Oct: conozca el itinerario". Finanzasdigital.com (in Spanish). 13 September 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
10. "Avior Airlines realizó su vuelo inaugural Maiquetía-Las Piedras". Descifrado.com (in Spanish). 2 June 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
11. "Avior inauguró nueva ruta entre Caracas y Puerto Ayacucho". 800noticias.com (in Spanish). January 20, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
12. "Avior Airlines resumes flights to Puerto Ordaz". Aviacionline.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
13. C.A., Avior Airlines. "Avior Airlines, C.A. - La Empresa". www.aviorair.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
14. "Hijacking Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
15. "Hijacking Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
16. "Incident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
17. "Incident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
18. Kraft, Melanie (2019-11-26). "INCIDENT Right main landing gear of Venezuelan Avior Airlines Boeing 737-400 collapsed during landing (video)". Aviation news and store. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
19. JanDelCastillo (2019-11-23). "Emergencia de Avior Airlines en Bogotá". TORRE EL DORADO (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
20. "Depressurization over the Andes - Avior Airlines Incident". Simpfly.aero. 2 June 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021.

External links

Media related to Avior Airlines at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website