Last Friday, the Venezuelan State carrier, Conviasa, launched its newest route, connecting Caracas with Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport. The airline used its A340-300 to fly between the two cities on a service that mainly carries a political perspective rather than a commercial strategy. Let’s investigate further.

Conviasa’s ties to Russia

There’s no surprise in saying that Venezuela, like Cuba, has strong political ties to Russia. According to Yván Gil, Venezuelan vice minister in Europe, the connection between both countries dates back to 2001. As reported by Aviacionline, he said,

“In 2001, after the meet between the Presidents (Hugo) Chávez and (Vladimir) Putin, we started an accelerated process of commercial, technical, political, and military exchange, which led to an intense relationship between both countries.”

Then, on March 25, the Russian Embassy in Venezuela announced the opening of an all-new nonstop route by Conviasa. The launch of this route was first scheduled to happen on April 1, but it was delayed (most likely, due to COVID-19 restrictions). It wasn't until May 14 that Conviasa operated its first flight between Venezuela and Russia.

The airline used its only A340-300 (it also has one A340-200), registration YV3507. This plane was the last one that entered Conviasa’s fleet. The Venezuelan State carrier took delivery of the A340-300 on December 31, after being reconditioned and painted in Iran.

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What do we know about the route?

Conviasa plans to operate the Caracas-Moscow route with one flight every two weeks. Flight V03770 will leave the Venezuelan city on Fridays. Eventually, Conviasa will increase the frequency to three flights per week, according to Ramón Velásquez, the airlines’ CEO.

The prices for this route start at US$1,800 per round ticket on economy class. Nevertheless, they can go as high as US$7,684 to be on executive class, said Aviacionline.

Conviasa expects to fly up to 2,000 passengers per month and open up a new port of entry into Europe.

Check out this video to see Conviasa’s A340-300 cabin.

Conviasa’s odd flights

Given the fact that Conviasa is a State-owned airline, it does as the Government wants. Therefore, Conviasa has operated a few odd, eyebrow-raising routes in the last years. Most likely, the strangest of these routes was the famous Caracas-Damascus-Tehran.

In the last month, the airline has been flying to Tehran, via Belgrade. And, in April, it posted a tweet saying it plans to operate cargo flights to 16 destinations worldwide. How? We don’t know.

Conviasa will do cargo flights to Cancun (Mexico), Moscow (Russia), Ankara (Turkey), Damascus (Syria), Dubai (UAE), Tehran (Iran), Kabul (Afganistan), Delhi (India), Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai (China), Bangkok (Thailand), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

About Conviasa

Conviasa is one of the few Venezuelan airlines that are currently operating. Others are Aeropostal, LASER Airlines, and Avior.

Conviasa started flying in 2004. It has the largest fleet among the Venezuelan carriers, with 13, according to RadarBox.com. It has one A340-200, one A340-300, one ATR 42-320, two Boeing 737-300, and eight Embraer E190.

In 2020, the carrier operated 3,022 flights, mostly on humanitarian operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Would you be interested in flying the Caracas-Moscow route with Conviasa? Let us know in the comments.