Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS), which serves the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas, has been closed indefinitely after powerful earthquakes hit the north of the South American country. Footage that was taken from within the airport’s terminal building at the time of the earthquakes yesterday evening shows passengers throwing themselves to the floor as a cloud of dust emerges.
Along with the city of La Guaira, Caracas was one of the cities situated closest to the epicenter of the earthquake, with the capital of Venezuela having suffered considerable damage as a result of the natural disaster. On the aviation side of things, cancellations are already starting to pile up, with several other Caracas-bound flights having diverted last night. Let’s take a look at what has happened.
Yesterday evening, at around 18:04 local time, northern Venezuela was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake at a depth of 20 km (12 miles). This was then followed by a second tremor 39 seconds later, and this was even stronger, clocking in at a magnitude of 7.5. According to the BBC, these earthquakes are the strongest to hit Venezuela since October 29, 1900, when a 7.7 magnitude tremor hit.
With Caracas being located close to the epicenter, its airport was rocked by the earthquakes, as seen in the video above. The facility suffered serious damage, with the BBC noting that dust and debris fell from the ceiling of the terminal building in the aftermath of the natural disaster. As such, it has been closed indefinitely, resulting in considerable aviation disruption. AeroTime quotes LATAM Colombia CEO Erika Zarante, whose airline flies to Caracas, as saying that:
“We understand the uncertainty and concern that an emergency like this can generate. We have activated flexible alternatives that allow [passengers] to reorganize their trips with greater peace of mind during this difficult moment.”
Following the indefinite closure of Caracas Airport after the earthquake, cancellations are already beginning to pile up. Indeed, data made available by Flight Aware showed at the time of writing that eight departures and ten arrivals today had already met this fate. Still, with Cirium, an aviation analytics company, showing that 56 Caracas-bound flights were scheduled today, more cancellations are likely.
According to tracking data from Flightradar24, the last flight to arrive in Caracas before yesterday’s earthquakes hit appears to have been Estelar Latinoamerica flight ES8302 from San Antonio del Tachira (SVZ). This Boeing 737-300 touched down at 5:48 PM. Since then, there have been multiple notable long-haul diversions, with Iberojet flight E9894 from Madrid Barajas (MAD) ending up in Curaçao (CUR).
This service was meant to have arrived in Caracas yesterday at 6:25 PM, just 21 minutes after the first earthquake struck. Later that evening, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operating Turkish Airlines flight TK233 from Istanbul Airport (IST) to Caracas was instead forced to divert to Panama City (PTY). Interestingly, Flightradar24’s data does show that two Qatar Executive private jets left after the tremors.
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Given the indefinite closure of Caracas Airport as a result of the pair of earthquakes that hit the capital city of Venezuela last night, airlines are now having to think proactively when it comes to their schedules. With this in mind, Democrata notes that Iberia has already canceled today’s flight from Madrid to Caracas, as well as, correspondingly, the return leg that would have gone back to Madrid on Friday.
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The publication confirms that Iberia has put its ‘force majeure’ policy in place for the guests who will be affected by these cuts. Under these rules, such flyers are allowed to cancel or change their booking at no extra cost. Delcy Rodríguez, the acting President of Venezuela, said last night that “severe damage to its infrastructure” was the reason for the airport’s closure. It will be interesting to see how long it is shut.
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