In brief
- Flights between the United States and Venezuela have resumed for the first time since 2019.
- The first journey, which featured a special Venezuelan menu, was celebrated by passengers and officials.
The first direct flight between the United States and Venezuela in seven years has landed in Caracas, a new sign of thawing relations after the US deposed leftist leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.
The flight, operated by American Airlines subsidiary Envoy Air, took off at 10.26am Thursday local time (12.26am Friday AEST) from Miami en route to Caracas, where the US has resumed diplomatic ties after years of tension.
Flight 3599 touched down less than three hours later.
Passengers included senior officials from Washington flying to Caracas to meet the government, a prospect unthinkable just months ago.
Some took selfies as they disembarked.
The flight symbolises the end of Venezuela's years-long isolation by the US.
It also marks the reintegration of the Caribbean country into global airspace after a mass stayaway by airlines late last year, at the height of a US pressure campaign on Maduro.
To celebrate, two Venezuelan fire service trucks hosed the plane on the tarmac after its arrival.
Isabel Parra, a travel agent originally from Venezuela, said she had not returned to the country since 2018 and was "super excited".
"For years, we had to go through Curaçao, the Dominican Republic or Bogotá, so having this direct flight is a real pleasure," Parra said.
She said the inaugural flight cost US$3,000 ($4,165) but that ticket prices were expected to drop quickly, particularly once American Airlines starts a second round-trip daily flight on 21 May.
Oscar Fuentes, a 64-year-old Houston-based lawyer, was among the passengers queuing to board the return flight to Miami.
"It's going to make life so much easier. Tonight, I'll be able to sleep in my own bed!" said Fuentes, who previously had to transit through the Dominican Republic.
'A new historic chapter in relations'
The flight featured a special Venezuelan menu of corn pancakes known as cachapas and a Venezuelan-style chicken salad, according to the airline.
Representatives of the city of Miami, a hub for Latin Americans that sees itself as a gateway to the region, greeted passengers at the gate, as did Venezuela's ambassador to the US, Félix Plasencia.
The US charge d'affaires in Venezuela, John Barrett, was waiting at the other end.
"Today marks a new historic chapter in relations" between the US and Venezuela, he said in Spanish, adding that Venezuela was now "open for business".
Some 1.2 million Venezuelans live in the US, and the thaw is expected to boost the US business presence in the South American nation, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves.
But US President Donald Trump has also been moving aggressively to remove Venezuelans from the US, terminating a program that shielded migrants from deportation back to the nation.
On 3 January, US forces carried out a deadly raid in Caracas, snatching longtime US nemesis Maduro and flying him and his wife to New York to face charges of drug trafficking, which they deny.
Maduro was replaced by his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who has largely cooperated with the US despite her ideological background.
Trump has voiced satisfaction with her policies toward US companies and has tried to enforce compliance by threatening violence. Venezuela has moved to open its oil and mining sectors to private investment.
Trump in turn has started an easing of sanctions on Venezuela, with measures imposed personally on Rodriguez dropped.
American Airlines, which is based in Texas and has a large network in Latin America, started flights to Venezuela in 1987 and carried the highest number of passengers between the two countries.
It ended flights in 2019 as relations deteriorated, with the US and other Western and Latin American nations declaring Maduro to be illegitimate after an election marred by irregularities.
The US state department continues to call on its citizens to reconsider travel to Venezuela due to widespread crime but in March ended its blanket warning against any travel.
The new flight comes despite trouble in the aviation industry, which has been hit hard by a sharp rise in oil prices after the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.
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