Aerolineas Argentinas is the 12th airline that decided to leave the country

Leer en Español: Venezuela: cada vez más aislada

Aerolineas Argentinas, the biggest airline in Argentina, suspended their flights to and from Caracas, Venezuela. The airline explained that their decision was due to “operational factors”. The company offered a 100% reimbursement to the passengers that had already purchased tickets or to simply change the destination to Bogotá, Colombia without any penalty fee.

Aerolineas Argentinas operated one flight weekly between Caracas and Buenos Aires; it was the only airline that would connect the Venezuelan capital with Argentina.  

This is not the first airline to take similar measures. Eleven other companies have cancelled their flights to and from Caracas due to the social, political, and economic crisis in the Caribbean country.

Timeline

The first airlines to leave Venezuela were Air Canada (Canada), Aeromexico (Mexico) Alitalia (Italy), Latam (Chile and Brazil), Tiara Air (Aruba), and Gol Airlines (Brazil) back in 2014. The airlines assured that the monetary controls affected their profits. 

Soon after, Germany’s Lufthansa and America’s Dinamyc took the same decision. In 2016, companies also blamed the monetary restrictions and the difficulties to repatriate their profits. Over the course of this year, four more airlines, such as Avianca (Colombia), United Airlines, Delta Airlines (USA), and now Aerolineas Argentinas, have left the country due to similar factors.

As of now, there are only 23 international airlines working within the Caribbean nation managing just 15 different destinations. These companies are Rutas Aereas (Port Spain and Curaçao), Avior (Bogota), American Airlines (Miami), AirFrance (Paris), Aruba Airlines (Miami), Caribbean Airlines (Port Spain), Copa Airlines (Panama and Bogota), Cubana de Aviación (La Habana), Estelar Latinoamerica (Panama, Santiago and Lima), Tame (Bogota), Albatros (San Jose), Latin American Wings (Santiago), Iberia (Madrid), World Atlantic (Miami), Laser (Panama, Aruba and Santo Domingo), Aserca (Aruba, Curaçao and Santo Domingo), Santa Barbara (Miami), Turkish Airlines (Instambul), Tap Air (Lisbon), Air Europa (Madrid), Rutas Aereas de Venezuela (Port Spain, Panama and Santo Domingo), Conviasa (La Habana and Panama), and Switf Air (Miami).

Venezuela doesn’t currently have direct flights to Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, or Brazil.

Latin American Post | Santiago Gómez Hernández

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