Caracas Reopened Its Airport by Building One in the Car Park

Simón Bolívar International at Maiquetía, the airport that serves Caracas, partially resumed commercial operations on 1 September, nearly ten weeks after the earthquakes of 24 June damaged its runways, control tower and passenger and cargo buildings. Repairs to the main facilities are still under way, so passengers are not using them. Instead, authorities have erected a temporary passenger complex of roughly 10,000 square metres in the airport’s parking area, with check-in counters, air-conditioned waiting areas, medical services, restrooms and free Wi-Fi.

The temporary terminal can handle about 2,168 passengers a day, and travellers are bussed from it to their aircraft. Operations restarted with seven domestic and four international round trips, a fraction of what Maiquetía handled before the quake, with more services phased in as conditions allow. Transport authorities are aiming to restore the airport to around 60 percent of its normal capacity by early 2027, which means the improvised arrangement is not a matter of weeks. Anyone flying from Caracas should expect an airport experience with little resemblance to the pre-June one.

The reopening has triggered a rapid restoration of flights to Colombia, the busiest international market. Avianca resumed daily Bogotá-Caracas service on 1 September after assessing operating and safety conditions with the authorities, and had already launched daily Bogotá-Maracaibo flights on 28 August; with its existing daily Bogotá-Valencia route, that gives the airline more than 7,500 weekly seats between the two countries. LATAM has also returned to selling nonstop Bogotá-Caracas travel for September and beyond.

Colombian low-cost carrier Wingo restores its Caracas operations today, 7 September, with daily Bogotá-Caracas flights and three weekly services between Medellín and Caracas, alongside the three weekly Bogotá-Valencia flights it used to hold the market together while Maiquetía was shut. That gives Wingo thirteen weekly frequencies and around 80,000 seats on sale through the end of the year. Because of the temporary arrangements, Wingo is telling departing passengers to arrive four hours before their flights, which is the single most useful piece of information in the whole reopening.

Sources: Caribbean Journal, Aviation24.be