The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela departed a bit early Thursday for Caracas, ending a seventh year of suspension that began when the U.S. Homeland Security Department ordered the route shut down, citing security concerns. The resumption of nonstop flights comes after months of U.S. control over the political terrain in Venezuela, including the U.S. capture of then President Nicolás Maduro in a nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas in early January and the formal reopening of the U.S. embassy in Caracas one month ago.
Who Controls the Route
Flight AA3599, operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, left Miami at 10:11 a.m. EDT (1411 GMT), five minutes ahead of schedule, according to Miami International Airport flight departure information. The flight was due to arrive around three hours later in the Venezuelan capital and return to Florida later in the afternoon. American Airlines said a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.
The route’s return is being managed through the same corporate and state machinery that shut it down. The U.S. Homeland Security Department ordered the indefinite suspension in 2019, and for the past seven years passengers have had to rely on international airlines and indirect routes through neighboring Latin American countries. American Airlines was the last U.S. airline flying to Venezuela before it suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.
What They Call Reconnection
Before boarding started, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava framed the flight in the language of family reunification, saying, “Parents will be able to connect with children, grandparents with grandchildren, and entire families with a home that shaped and raised them.” She also said, “Miami-Dade is home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States.”
American Airlines staff handed passengers small Venezuelan flags, and balloons with the colors yellow, blue and red adorned the gate door leading to the plane. The pageantry of the gate stood in contrast to the years of restricted travel that left people dependent on indirect routes and outside carriers to move between the two countries.
Passenger Lennart Ochoa of Miami said, “I’m very excited to go and see the family and I’m looking forward to see the country,” and said he was “ready to go” and got his ticket as soon as they were available. He also said, “Just to go and see the family on a direct flight from Miami to Caracas is priceless.”
The Power Behind the “Opening”
In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he informed Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over the country, allowing Americans to visit. Trump said at the time, “American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there.” The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the U.S. and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019.
The reopening of the route follows the reopening of the embassy and the earlier suspension ordered by U.S. authorities, showing how access, movement, and diplomacy remain subject to decisions made at the top. The people who actually need to travel, reconnect, or return home have spent years navigating the consequences of those decisions, while airlines, officials, and state institutions now present the restored route as a fresh beginning.