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The Venezuelan airline Laser Airlines announced the start of daily direct flights between Miami and Caracas beginning May 1, just a day after American Airlines resumes its own operations to Venezuela, according to the Nuevo Herald.
Laser Airlines flights will be operated through a commercial alliance with Global Crossing Airlines (Global X), an American airline headquartered at the Miami International Airport.
The route will be operated on an Airbus A320 with a capacity of 150 passengers: 12 in business class and 138 in economy class.
The flight will depart from Miami at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at 10:45 a.m. at Simón Bolívar International Airport, in Maiquetía, just outside of Caracas.
From Venezuela, the flight will depart at 12:30 p.m. and land at Miami International Airport at 3:45 p.m.
At the time of the announcement, ticket prices were not available in the airline's reservation system.
Laser Airlines had submitted a formal request to the U.S. Department of Transportation in January of this year to operate regular and charter flights between Miami and three Venezuelan cities: Caracas, Valencia, and Maracaibo, with a temporary exemption of two years.
In that request, the airline estimated transporting approximately 172,800 passengers during the first year of direct operations.
American Airlines, on its part, will resume its flights on April 30, becoming the first American airline to fly directly to Venezuela in over six years.
American flights will be operated by its subsidiary Envoy Air on Embraer 175 aircraft, departing from Miami at 10:16 a.m. and arriving in Caracas at 1:36 p.m.
The fares for American Airlines during the initial days of operation are high: round-trip tickets in economy class start at approximately $1,951, while business class exceeds $5,000.
American Airlines began operations in Venezuela in 1987 and was for years the largest American airline in the country before suspending its services in 2019.
The reactivation of these routes is possible following the reopening of Venezuelan airspace ordered by President Donald Trump on January 29 of this year, after communicating with Delcy Rodríguez, who has taken on the role of interim president of Venezuela.
The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, formally revoked the 2019 order that prohibited U.S. airlines from operating in Venezuela, ending an air blockade that had lasted approximately three months following warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration regarding dangers from military activity in the region.
The Miami-Caracas route is historically strategic due to the large volume of Venezuelans residing in South Florida and the economic and family ties between the two countries.
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