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President Donald Trump said Thursday he has informed Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, that the United States will reopen commercial airspace over Venezuela, and that Americans will soon be able to travel there. Trump also said he told transportation secretary Sean Duffy and U.S. military leaders to take steps to open the airspace for travel by the end of the day.
Trump said, “American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” framing the move as an effort to allow direct travel. He said he has ordered U.S. action even as the U.S. government continued issuing travel warnings to Americans.
Venezuela’s government did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement. The U.S. State Department also continued to warn Americans not to travel to Venezuela, maintaining its highest-level advisory citing a high risk of wrongful detention, torture, kidnapping and more. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request asking whether it would change the advisory.
During a Cabinet meeting, Trump said he was ordering the reopening of commercial airspace over Venezuela. In a related development, the administration notified Congress earlier this week that it was taking initial steps toward possibly reopening the shuttered U.S. Embassy in Caracas, as it explores restoring relations with Venezuela after a U.S. military raid that ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries collapsed in 2019, and U.S.-Venezuela relations have been constrained since then. In the air-travel context, U.S. airlines suspended flights to Venezuela before a 2019 Homeland Security order that requested an indefinite suspension, citing conditions in Venezuela that threatened the “safety and security of passengers, aircraft, and crew.”
American Airlines, the last U.S. carrier flying to Venezuela until it suspended service in 2019 between Miami and Caracas and also served Maracaibo, said Thursday it intends to resume direct flights “in the coming months.” In a statement, American’s chief commercial officer Nat Pieper said the airline has a “more than 30-year history” connecting Venezolanos and the U.S., and that it is “ready to renew that incredible relationship.”
Pieper said American expects to share additional details about the return to service as it works with federal authorities on security assessments and the permissions needed to restart service. The announcement came even as the FAA, which issues air-safety guidance for pilots, had previously cautioned about heightened military activity near Venezuela and related regions, prompting international airlines to cancel flights.
The FAA told pilots to “exercise caution” around Venezuela amid military activity, and it issued a similar 60-day warning earlier in January for the eastern Pacific region near Mexico, Central America and parts of South America. That earlier warning was tied to the capture of Maduro and the U.S. threat of continued military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the area.
On Thursday, the FAA said it was lifting four Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) for the region that had been issued as precautionary measures and were no longer necessary. The FAA said in a statement that “Safety remains our top priority” and that it “look[s] forward to facilitating the return of regular travel between the U.S. and Venezuela.”