#a340

Airbus A340-600 Conviasa

Registration: YV3545 Type: A340-642 Engines: 4 × RR Trent 556-61 Serial Number: 391 First flight: Sep 2, 2002

Línea Aérea Conviasa – this is how Venezuela's state-owned airline is commonly known, although its full legal name sounds far more impressive: Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos (Venezuelan Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Air Services). The company's headquarters is located at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, near the country's capital – Caracas.

The new company's first flight took place on November 28, 2004. A De Havilland Canada Dash 7 aircraft operated a service from the airport in Charallave to Santiago Mariño International Airport on Margarita Island. This was a symbolic beginning for an airline whose headquarters was actually located on that island. The company officially began its operations at national and international levels on December 10, 2004.

In recent years, Conviasa has been actively expanding its long-haul fleet. In July 2020, an Airbus A340-300 joined the fleet in addition to the existing A340-200 – this allowed for an increase in both cargo capacity and operational range. Then, in March and June 2022, two Airbus A340-600s entered the fleet. In 2022, the company announced the acquisition of an A340-500, but for some reasons the deal did not materialize. Yet this would have made Conviasa the only airline in the world operating all variants of the A340.

Today it is Venezuela's flagship and largest carrier, operating flights both domestically and to countries in the Caribbean, South America, and even to Moscow. To operate these flights, the airline manages a fleet of 24 aircraft, ranging from regional ATR 42s and Embraer 190s to long-haul Airbus A340s, as well as one presidential Airbus A319 ACJ.