Aserca Airlines (Caracas Simón Bolivar) along with LTA - Linea Turistica Aereotuy, Conviasa, and Aeropostal - Alas de Venezuela were all mandated to temporarily suspend ticket sales earlier this week after the Venezuelan civil aviation authority (Instituto Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil - INAC) snap inspection of the country's airlines revealed glaring irregularities in the aforementioned carriers' operations.
Venezuela's El Nacional states that INAC sanctioned the carriers after it uncovered instances of excessive delayed flights, failure to notify authorities of altered itineraries, falsified sales quotas, and passengers being stranded when no aircraft were available. According to Correo de Lorinoco, INAC has also, at least temporarily, forced Aeroméxico (AM, México City International), Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR, Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery), Avianca (Bogotá), TAME Ecuador (Quito International) and SBA Airlines (Caracas Simón Bolivar) to stop selling tickets at Caracas airport ticket offices claiming they do not comply with fare and fare rule publication rules in Venezuela.
Based on ch-aviation research, at least Aeropostal, Aserca and Conviasa have since resumed selling tickets through their websites.
Sources in Caracas who spoke to ch-aviation said that though the regulatory body may have been correct in its decision to sanction the airlines, their respective operational problems are a consequence of Nicholas Maduro's socialist economic policies.
Members of the country's aviation community have bemoaned a hard hitting foreign currency shortage coupled with excessive red-tape at customs and border controls which have severely hampered airlines' ability to access spare parts and return equipment to service in a timely manner.
In addition, fare caps preventing carriers from charging realistic airfares have wreaked havoc with operational income. In certain cases, airline fares between cities sometimes work out cheaper than a taxi-cab fare for the same route.
