Closed counters, empty spaces and silence on the screens marked the day in Maiquetía, where only a handful of airlines maintain operations with international destinations
The cancellation of operations by several airlines left the runway and sky at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía unusually clear. Although this airspace is not usually very crowded, activities are even more limited.
The terminal looks silent: the food establishments without customers, the luggage packers distracted in front of their cell phone screens and the taxi drivers resigned, commenting that they are “like in the cinema: just watching because there is no work.”
Canceled flights do not appear on the information screens; Only the departures of the few airlines that maintain operations are shown: Wingo to Bogotá, Laser Airlines to Bogotá and Curacao, Copa Airlines to Panama and Conviasa to Cuba.
For November 26, only seven international flights make up the offer at the country’s main airport. For the next day, only one more route is added, bound for the Viru Viru International Airport, in Bolivia.
The offices of airlines that suspended operations are closed. Only Turkish Airlines displays a document announcing the cancellation of flights from November 24 to 28. The airline explains that passengers may be relocated on routes to Bogotá, Panama, Cancún and Havana, and clarifies that “only the route to/from Caracas is cancelled.”
The companies that continue to fly normally are Copa, Wingo, Boliviana de Aviación, Satena and the national companies Avior and Conviasa. Among the few passengers, those who travel to Havana stand out because almost all of them carry at least five large suitcases.
Meanwhile, other companies keep their routes to and from the country suspended. Among them are: Air Europa, Plus Ultra, TAP, Gol, Latam, Avianca, Iberia, Caribbean and Turkish.
In the hallways there are many officials from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), the National Guard, the Bolivarian National Police, Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Immigration (Saime) and anti-drug units.
In the counter An awkward silence reigns. People look at the screens and quietly comment among themselves, in a kind of whisper. The speakers also do not announce anything about flight cancellations.
The maintenance staff goes about their routine: they sweep, polish the floor, take down advertisements. Carlos Cruz-Diez’s “Additive Color Chromointerference” looks strangely naked. The meeting point and obligatory postcard seems to have lost its purpose: no one, neither national nor foreign travelers, stops to take a photo and take a souvenir.
Between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm on the runways of the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía only the engines of two planes roared and took flight. In a space where the hum of aircraft echoed La Guaira, an unusual silence reigns for a landing strip.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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