American Airlines starts daily non-stop flights from Miami to Maracaibo, Venezuela
American Airlines started flying non-stop between Miami and Maracaibo on Tuesday, another sign that relations between the United States and Venezuela are thawing.
The flight, the only non-stop service between the U.S. and Maracaibo, departed gate D55 at 10:07 a.m., three minutes ahead of schedule on Envoy, a subsidiary of American Airlines and a part of American Eagle. The Embraer-175 aircraft, which holds 76 seats, was full, according to an airline spokesperson. This is the first flight to Maracaibo since 2019.
Amenities include free high-speed Wi-Fi.
The new flight comes as American Airlines twice daily direct flights between MIA and Caracas remain suspended following multiple earthquakes on June 24 that devastated Venezuela’s capital. The carrier hasn’t yet given a date to resume fights. The airport in Caracas sustained major damage in the quakes.
“American Airlines continues to monitor the situation in Caracas with our customers’ and team members’ safety top of mind,” the carrier said in a statement. It will restart flights “once the airport reopens for commercial flights.”
Tuesday’s flight to Maracaibo didn’t carry relief supplies because it was a commercial flight and full of passengers. But a July 2 flight to Caracas on a larger Boeing 737 brought in over 9,000 pounds of essential supplies, the airline said. That included nonperishable food, water, diapers, wipes, baby formula and hygiene products.
The airline also has several ways the public can help the relief effort.
American, which has a major hub at Miami International Airport and is one of Miami-Dade County’s largest employers, had resumed flights between MIA and Caracas on April 30. It was the first commercial airline to resume non-stop fights between Venezuela and the United States since 2019.
American first began operating flights to Venezuela in 1987.
The flight to Maracaibo is the 99th international destination American Airlines flies to from MIA. Cap-Haitien will be the 100th when American resumes direct fights to Haiti starting Nov. 1.
The flights to Venezuela from MIA mark one of several dramatic changes between Venezuela and the U.S. over the past 7 months.
In January, the U.S. military removed and arrested Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas, and brought them to New York.
Relations, though, are fluid as President Trump left Maduro’s number two in charge.
The State Department currently has a Level 3 - Reconsider travel - advisory for Venezuela, issued on June 27. It reads “reconsider travel to Venezuela due to risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, and poor health infrastructure and natural disaster.”
It was at Level 4 - do not travel - as recently as March 18.