Quake-hit airport, lost pilots disrupt Venezuela’s revival

Commercial operations at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiqueti will probably not resume for months, experts say.

Caracas – Just as Venezuela was leaving behind years of international pariah status, catastrophic earthquakes have devastated its main international airport – and many of the skilled hands who worked there.

Ground zero for the devastation from the twin quakes on June 24 is the coastal state of La Guaira, home to Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia. Two of the airport’s three runways have been cleared for aid and rescue flights, but commercial operations will probably not resume for months, experts say.

Longer term, the loss of many Venezuelan pilots and other personnel who lived in La Guaira will take years to overcome in a country that has seen more than a quarter of its population emigrate over the past decade.

The death toll from the 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude quakes has now reached 1,719, with tens of thousands still missing under collapsed buildings. Aftershocks are keeping many on edge.

As the window for survivability was closing last week, international rescue crews pulled some victims from the rubble, while Venezuelans using their bare hands clawed through the concrete and twisted metal in a desperate search for loved ones.

One was Marcos Perez, chief pilot at Caracas Air, a national airline, and instructor at NAV Aviation, a pilot-training academy.

“It affected me a lot, many of my students died,” said Perez, 52, in a trembling voice. “The director of the university I worked with died when his house collapsed. I have other friends who have been confirmed dead.”

Bloomberg spoke with about a dozen Venezuelan pilots who were missing colleagues or relatives. Many of them were actively participating in rescue and aid efforts, with some piloting humanitarian flights.

There are no official figures of the death toll for the industry, but posts about pilots and flight personnel who are unaccounted for are flooding citizen chat groups and unofficial registries of missing people. One pilot said about 90 per cent of the country’s aviation sector is connected to La Guaira.

On June 29, Venezuela’s aviation authority issued a notice requiring international flights to obtain prior authorisation to land in or depart from Venezuela until July 2. The authority had issued a notice on June 28 restricting the airspace, but withdrew it shortly after.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado said on June 29 that “the regime closed our country’s airspace” to prevent her planned return to Venezuela.

The airport devastation reflects