American Airlines gets Venezuelan approval to resume direct MIA-Caracas flights

American Airlines has been cleared by Venezuela’s aviation authority to resume direct flights between Miami International Airport and Maiquetía International Airport in Caracas, setting the stage for the first non-stop commercial flights between the United States and the South American country since bilateral relations plummeted to an all-time low.

American’s first flight is now expected to depart from MIA on April 30, an aviation expert familiar with the process told the Miami Herald on Sunday. INAC, the Venezuelan regulator, gave the go-ahead earlier this month, the person said.

How soon tickets will be available online was uncertain on Sunday amid conflicting rumors on social media. The source abreast of the ongoings between the airline and Venezuela said travelers could expect tickets to go on sale within the next few days.

Envoy, a subsidiary of American Airlines and part of American Eagle, will operate the daily, non-stop service between Venezuela’s capital and the home to the country’s largest diaspora in the United States, encompassing Major League Baseball stars and classical musicians.

The airline will fly an Embraer-175, a smaller plane, so the company can assess market demand.

American, which has a major hub at Miami International Airport and is one of Miami-Dade County’s largest employers, is the first commercial airline to announce plans to resume non-stop fights between Venezuela and the United States.

The process to get those first flights to take off is long and complicated. It involves approvals by both governments. Both countries also need to issue visas much more easily and quickly than they currently do, industry and Venezuela experts say.

As of April 19, the U.S State Department still has a Level 3 advisory for Venezuela — urging Americans to reconsider going — which could deter travelers. The advisory was Level 4 — do not travel — as recently as March 18 and the situation remains fluid and fast-moving.

Still, the return of flights would be one of several significant changes over the past four 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.

The Trump administration left in place Delcy Rodríguez to lead Venezuela. She was previously Maduro’s No. 2 and is implicated in a host of human-rights violations and acts of state repression, including torture and killings. But the Trump administration has bet on leaving her in place as an effective way to lead to a gradual transition.

While President Donald Trump has downplayed the importance of democracy returning to Venezuela, he has pressed forward with normalizing some business relations. That includes pushing American oil and mining executives to work there even if it will likely take years before yielding significant results for many companies. Earlier in April, the Trump administration lifted a host of sanctions on Venezuela.

Rodríguez has also appeared eager to restore business ties between the U.S. and Venezuela, while restoring democracy has taken a back seat. She even spoke virtually at a Miami finance conference in March, calling for U.S. investment in Venezuela.

On Jan. 29, the U.S. Department of Transportation rescinded an order from 2019 that had suspended U.S. air carriers from going to Venezuela.

That day, American Airlines, which had operated flights until that year, said it planned “to reinstate nonstop service between the United States and Venezuela” and “is ready to commence flights to Venezuela, pending government approval and security.” It quickly filed an application with the DOT.

In March, the DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration approved American’s request to resume flights.

American Airlines first began operating flights to Venezuela in 1987.