US-Venezuela relations warm as American Airlines launches Caracas service from Miami
The resumption of flights between the US and Venezuela is a positive step. But hopes for a return to normality is a flight of fancy.
American Airlines (AA) resumed service to Caracas yesterday for the first time in more than seven years. It’s a pivotal moment for AA, which long dominated routes to the country and was once a busy market for the airline. At its peak, the airline served Venezuela out of Miami, Dallas, New York and even San Juan, Puerto Rico. This time things look very different, at least for now. The company is testing the waters with a daily 76-seat Embraer flight from Miami, operated by subsidiary Envoy Air.
The service resumption follows the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January. Since then, relations have been gradually normalising. Mutual accessibility is a crucial factor in that rebuild – and it is also a major business victory for AA. Initial fares for the three-and-a-half-hour flight went on sale at more than $800 (€682) for a one-way economy seat and a minimum $1,490 (€1,270) for business class. Presumably a steady flow of diplomats, oil executives and entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of thawing relations will be lining up to pay such fares and skip the stop in Panama City or Bogotá.
But lining these seats will also be long-separated family members who will be keener than any for flights to proliferate and prices to drop. Critically, there is now a visa portal where US citizens can get e-visas to enter Venezuela – an impossibility in recent years that has certainly led to quite a bit of pent-up demand. Expect to see larger mainline aircraft flying between the two countries from more cities before long, as well as a second daily Miami-Caracas flight that is already planned for late May.
Naturally, other airlines, including Venezuelan carriers, are eager to resume their own US service as soon as possible. When I visited Venezuela in 2024, I spent time at the headquarters of the airline Avior in Barcelona, just down the coast from Caracas. On a warm January day, as mechanics performed heavy maintenance on a classic Boeing 737 outside, senior staff gathered around an office whiteboard. The heading scrawled in marker pen read: “US start-up”. Below that were about 30 bullet points listing the various regulatory and legal hurdles that would need to be cleared in order to restart the coveted Miami service.
In other words, Avior – and no doubt others in the country – have been preparing for this day for years. But one problem remains: the US Federal Aviation Administration designates Venezuela as an IASA Category 2 country, meaning that it does not meet minimum international safety standards; combine that with prohibitions from the Department of Transport and the Department of Homeland Security and the country’s airlines are therefore banned from flying to the US, regardless of the political situation.
Not content to wait around, Venezuelan carrier Laser Airlines announced just days ago that it will begin Miami flights of its own but with a catch: the flights will actually be operated by an American carrier named Global X, onboard one of its A320 aircraft. Global X, it just so happens, is the carrier with a sizeable contract to operate ICE deportation flights (reportedly around 80 per cent of the total, including direct services to the notorious Cecot prison in El Salvador that the US government contracted to take many of its deportees). It’s a plan that feels rather on-brand for the current US administration: forcibly deport people from the US to Venezuela, then offer sky-high fares for the return leg on the same aircraft.
But for airlines on either side of the Caribbean, it’ll be a matter of getting their foot in the door, whatever way possible, and rebuilding a once-lucrative market. Keep in mind that in a much different era, Caracas once saw a Concorde service from Paris. Many will be hoping to see similar high points once again.
But we’re not quite there yet. The US remains bullish in this corner of the world. Just one day before the Miami-Caracas resumption, AA unveiled an Embraer jet adorned in a special livery celebrating the 250-year anniversary of the founding of the US, with the number painted prominently across the fuselage in the colours of the American flag. You can guess which aircraft they sent to Caracas yesterday.
Gabriel Leigh is Monocle’s transport correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
