Venezuela's Minister of Transport, Francisco Garces, announced on Wednesday that the restoration of part of the Simon Bolivar Maiquetia airport is expected during the first half of next year.
Garces explained that this requires a number of very significant works that will take several months, so the airport will not be put into operation, even partially, this year.
He noted that one of the runways at the airport, located in the affected region of La Guaira north of Caracas, was seriously damaged due to a seismic failure. However, Garces stated that this runway has been fully restored and is functioning properly.
Furthermore, it was guaranteed that the airport would become significantly better by receiving enhanced international connectivity in response to interest from various foreign airlines wishing to operate in the country.
Maiquetia Airport resumed operations with temporary terminals on September 1, which allowed for the recovery of 49% of domestic and 46% of international operations that existed before the disaster, according to the minister.
According to the minister's statement, the volume of airport operations should reach about 60% this year, while remaining dependent on more distant alternative airports in Caracas.
Nineteen airlines are operating in the temporary terminals activated last week at the main airport, 11 of which are international. Among them are Portuguese TAP, Spanish Air Europa, Iberia and Plus Ultra, North American American Airlines, Panamanian Copa Airlines, Colombian Avianca, and LATAM Colombia (a subsidiary of Chilean LATAM Airlines).
According to the state agency Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, the temporary terminals are designed to accommodate a total of 2,168 people, of whom 720 are in the international departure area and 496 are in the arrival area.