Venezuela Airline Revives Direct Flight from Caracas to New York

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan airline Aerolineas Estelar Latinoamerica CA will begin to offer a direct flight from Caracas to New York more than two years after the route disappeared from its itineraries.

Isolated Venezuelans have few options when flying. Carriers such as Delta Air Lines Inc., Latam Airlines SA and Avianca Holdings SA have scrapped flights to Caracas for security reasons as well as the virtual impossibility of getting money out of the country. While American Airlines still offers routes to Venezuela, it indefinitely suspended its direct flights to New York in 2016, claiming low demand.

Estelar’s website does not detail exactly when they will begin to offer the route and for what price. A Maracaibo travel agency is offering tickets through the airline starting late this month for about $570 round-trip.

Amid byzantine currency controls, Estelar signed a deal with Santiago-based Latin American Wings last year to take care of the legal process of getting dollars. They currently service local destinations and international cities including Madrid, Rome, Miami and Buenos Aires.

--With assistance from Jose Enrique Arrioja and Fabiola Zerpa.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas

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