LAV (Linea Aeropostal Venezolana)

  July 1929 to present

  Venezuela

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TYPE: Airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: LV / ---

HEADQUARTERS: Caracas

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

In 1929, the French company Aeropostale, then under the leadership of its owner Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont, arrived in Venezuela. Aeropostale viewed Venezuela as the ideal bridge to link South America with the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. This idea materialized on 3 July 1929. However, on 31 December 1933, the Venezuelan government purchased the airline after the French government inexplicably decided to stop subsidizing it.

Despite its new Venezuelan ownership, the airline continued to be run by French personnel under the direction of Robert Guerin until 1 January 1935, when operations shifted to Venezuelan hands under the management of commander Francisco Leonardi. In 1939, DC3s were introduced in order to transport larger cargo loads and passengers. By 1942 the fleet had grown considerably. LAV's first international flights began in July 1945, serving the city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil. LAV's second international route was to Aruba in January 1946, connecting to KLM's international route structure.

After the war ended, LAV re-equipped with newer aircraft, replacing its pre-war Electra & Lodestar fleet which was decimated by many accidents over the previous five years. DC3s, DC4s and Martin 2-0-2 were introduced. In 1947, the airline purchased Lockheed Constellations to fly a new direct international route from Caracas to New York. This new service started on 21 March 1947.

In 1951, LAV began service to Lima, Peru and Bogota, Colombia. The Bogota route was acquired by LAV after they purchased 88% of TACA de Venezuela. Previously, TACA de Venezuela had a joint route agreement with the Colombian airline, LANSA. Until TACA de Venezuela was completely absorbed by LAV in 1958, the route to Bogota was flown using TACA aircraft in TACA livery. During the 1950s, LAV opened a transatlantic service and began flying to Panama. On 24 March 1956, LAV introduced its first turboprop, the Vickers Viscount, which was to replace the older piston engined fleet.

In 1961, the Venezuelan government wanted to separate LAV's international and domestic routes, thus creating a new airline for international flights, VIASA, in cooperation with AVENSA.

September 1951* to ca 1979*

Aeropostal operated a total of four Commandos. They were mostly used on scheduled domestic passenger routes during the day, and to carry mail at night. They occasionally flew to Curacao, Trinidad and Miami, FL. YV-C-AMK was destroyed in a crash on a maintenance test flight on 23 May 1970, while the other three were retired in the late 1970's.

• Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando: YV-C-AMN / YV-17C
• Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando: YV-C-AMK
• Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando: YV-C-AMR / YV-16C
• Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando: YV-C-AML