Overview
- Envoy Air flight 3599 operating for American Airlines landed in Caracas on Thursday, the first direct U.S.–Venezuela commercial flight since 2019.
- American is running a daily Miami–Caracas service with Embraer 175 jets, with a second daily frequency set to begin May 21, which shortens trips that had required long detours through third countries.
- The U.S. approved Envoy’s application in March and granted a two-year authorization that also allows service to Maracaibo.
- Officials frame the route as part of a broader thaw that includes reopened embassies in late March and gradual U.S. sanctions easing alongside Venezuelan laws opening oil and mining to private investment.
- Nicolás Maduro’s January 3 capture and U.S. prosecution form the backdrop to the policy shift, even as the State Department keeps Venezuela at Level 3 on travel risk due to crime, kidnappings, terrorism, and weak health care.