GetWiki

{{Short description|1997–2018 Venezuelan airline}}

factoids

Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela}}| key_people = Francisco González (President)Simón Bolívar International Airport}}| focus_cities = | frequent_flyer = Privilege| alliance = Aserca Airlineswww.sbairlines.com/}}}}Santa Bárbara Airlines C.A, doing business as SBA Airlines and formerly as Santa Bárbara Airlines prior to 2008,WEB, Santa Barbara Airlines frontpage,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071008232556weblink">weblink 8 October 2007, 8 October 2007, dead, was an airline with its headquarters on the third floor of the Edificio Tokay in Caracas, Venezuela."Oficinas {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204070048weblink |date=2013-02-04 }}." SBA Airlines. Retrieved on January 17, 2012. "Calle 3B, Edificio Tokay, Piso 3, La Urbina." It operated scheduled domestic and international services. Its main base was Simón Bolívar International Airport, Maiquetía (Caracas).

History

The airline was established on 1 November 1995 and started operations on 1 March 1997. At March 2000, the airline had 80 employees and a fleet of three ATR 42-300s to serve both a domestic and a regional network that consisted of Aruba, Barquisimeto, Barranquilla, Caracas, Coro, Curaçao, Las Piedras, Maracaibo, Mérida, Santa Barbara Zulia and Valencia.JOURNAL, World airline directory–Santa Barbara Airlines, 21–27 March 2000, 100, Flight International, 157, 4720, 0015-3710,weblinkweblink 18 February 2018, It wholly owned Islas Airways until September 2006, when Islas was sold to the Canary Islands company Grupo SOAC.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} Santa Bárbara Airlines was rechristened as SBA Airlines in 2008, following the acquisition of the carrier by Aserca Airlines.At first it only covered airline flights to Cabimas, Mérida, El Vigía and Santa Bárbara del Zulia. The route to Alberto Carnevali Airport in Mérida was diverted to El Vigía-Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo International Airport after the crash of Flight 518. Later, the airline took new destinations which covered the routes to Barquisimeto, Caracas, Cumaná, Las Piedras (Punto Fijo), San Antonio del Táchira and Valencia with a single overseas flight that covered the route Caracas – Oranjestad (Aruba).WEB, Flyus - Cheap Flight Deals and Discount Santa Barbara Tickets. Search Santa Barbara Flights and Book Airfare at Flyus,weblink 2023-01-27, Flyus.com, en, In early 2009, a 245-seater Boeing 767-300ER was introduced into the fleet to replace a wet-leased aircraft of the same type, and Funchal and Madrid were incorporated into the international network (which already included Miami, Quito and Tenerife) in June the same year.Later,{{when|date=February 2018}} the airline opened international routes from Caracas to Barranquilla, Quito, Lima, Lisboa, London, Madrid, Miami, New York, Santiago de Compostela, Orlando, Tenerife and Paris.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} The routes to New York City and Lima in the Americas, and Funchal, Lisboa, Madrid, Tenerife and Santiago de Compostela in Europe meanwhile ceased.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}In late January 2018, the National Institute of Civil Aviation suspended SBA Airlines for 90 days citing the airline's impossibility to fulfil the schedules, amid the cancellation of some flights that left stranded passengers in Miami.NEWS, INAC suspendió a Santa Bárbara Airlines por 90 días, Spanish, INAC suspended Santa Bárbara Airlines for 90 days,weblink El Nacional (Caracas), El Nacional, 30 January 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180217232344weblink">weblink 17 February 2018, At this time, the Caracas–Miami route was the only service the airline had available to book at its website.NEWS, Santa Bárbara Airlines no operará por 3 meses y es advertida sobre suspensión definitiva, Spanish, Santa Bárbara Airlines will not operate for three months and is warned about an indefinite suspension, El Nuevo Herald, Catalina, Ruiz Parra, 30 January 2018,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180217233741weblink">weblink 17 February 2018, SBA Airlines ceased operations on , after it returned its air operator's certificate.NEWS, Santa Bárbara Airlines informó oficialmente el cese de sus operaciones, Spanish, Santa Bárbara Airlines officially announced it ceased operations, El Nacional (Caracas), El Nacional, 4 May 2018,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180504203535weblink">weblink 4 May 2018, WEB,weblink SBA Airlines entrega su Certificado de Operador Aéreo al gobierno venezolano, Transponder1200.com, 3 May 2018, es, May 3, 2018,

Destinations

SBA Airlines served the following scheduled destinations as of January 2018.WEB,weblink .: Santa B?rbara Airlines, www.sbairlines.com, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071008233502weblink">weblink 2007-10-08, After all flights were suspended by government authorities on 26 January 2018,NEWS, Gobierno dominicano incauta bienes de aerolínea Pawa suspendida,weblink 21 February 2018, February 13, 2018, es, {|class="sortable wikitable!Country!City!Airport!Notes!class="unsortable"|RefsOranjestad, Aruba>OranjestadQueen Beatrix International Airportalign=center|Willemstad>Hato International Airport> EcuadorQuitoMariscal Sucre International Airportalign=center|Guayaquil>José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport> Panama City>Tocumen International Airport> Madeira>Funchal Airport> SpainMadridMadrid-Barajas Airportalign=center|Santiago de Compostela>Santiago de Compostela Airport>|Tenerife>Tenerife North Airport>Los Rodeos Airport{{Terminated}}HTTPS://WWW.CH-AVIATION.COM/PORTAL/NEWS/30479-VENEZUELAS-SBA-AIRLINES-AXES-TENERIFE-NORTE-FLIGHTS>TITLE=VENEZUELA'S SBA AIRLINES AXES TENERIFE NORTE FLIGHTSDATE=AUGUST 18, 2014, Miami>Miami International Airport> VenezuelaCaracasSimón Bolívar International Airport (Venezuela)>|El Vigia>Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso Airport> Maracaibo>La Chinita International Airport> Punto Fijo>Josefa Camejo International Airport> Valencia, Venezuela>ValenciaArturo Michelena International Airportalign=center|

Fleet

File:Boeing_767-3Y0(ER),_Santa_Barbara_Airlines_(SmartLynx_Airlines)_JP6680977.jpg|thumb|A Boeing 767-300ER in SBA Airlines livery departing Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas AirportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas AirportFile:Santa Barbara Airlines Boeing 757-200 Airwim-1.jpg|thumb|A Boeing 757-200 in the Santa Bárbara Airlines livery landing at Miami International AirportMiami International Airport

Final fleet

As of May 2017, the SBA Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:WEB,weblink Nuestra Flota, Our Fleet, Spanish, sbairlines.com, Santa Barbara Airlines C.A, 25 May 2017, {| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; text-align:center"|+ SBA Airlines Fleet !rowspan=2|Aircraft!rowspan=2|Total!rowspan=2|Orders!colspan=3|Passengers!rowspan=2|Notes!J!Y!Total|Boeing 757-200|2|—|24|154|178||Boeing 767-300ER|3|—|18|224|242|!Total!5!—!colspan=4|

Previous fleet

Over the years, SBA Airlines had operated the following aircraft types:WEB,weblink SBA Airlines fleet details, Airfleets.com, January 28, 2018, WEB,weblink SBA Airlines fleet, aerobernie.bplaced.net, February 20, 2021, {| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; text-align:center"|+ SBA Airlines Previous Fleet !Aircraft!Introduced!Retired!Notes|Airbus A330-200|2015|2015Hi Fly (airline)>Hi FlyHTTPS://WWW.AIRFLEETS.NET/FLOTTECIE/SBA%20AIRLINES-HISTORY-A330.HTM>TITLE=SBA AIRLINES FLEET OF A330 (HISTORY)ACCESS-DATE=JUNE 26, 2021, |ATR 42-300|2005|2008||ATR 42-320|1997|2006||Boeing 727-200|2003|2008|McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31HTTP://WWW.SBAIRLINES.COM/FLOTA.HTMLACCESS-DATE=2023-07-30ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20110202185505/HTTP://WWW.SBAIRLINES.COM/FLOTA.HTML, bot: unknown, |{{unknown}}|{{unknown}}||McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30|2002|2005||McDonnell Douglas MD-82|2009|2018Leased from Aserca Airlines|McDonnell Douglas MD-83|2009|2018

Accidents and incidents

On 21 February 2008, an ATR 42-300 turboprop airliner operating Flight 518 from Mérida to Caracas, went missing shortly after taking off. Forty-three passengers and a crew of three, including two pilots and one flight attendant, were reportedly on board at the time. The remains of the aircraft were found the following day in a mountain range approximately 10 kilometers north-east of Mérida at an altitude of {{convert|12,000|ft|m}}. No survivors were found. After the accident, the company started a new public relations program as well as a new marketing initiative, switching the airline's name to SBA Airlines.

See also

• PAWA Dominicana

References

External links

{{commons category-inline|Santa Barbara Airlines}}

• Official website

{{Airlines of Venezuela}}{{IATA members|latinam}}