Effective next month, seat capacity operated by U.S. airlines between Venezuela and the United States will be down a staggering 75 percent year over year, according to BTN analysis of OAG data. Amid a dispute between airlines and the Venezuelan government over repatriation of earnings, two of the largest U.S.-based operators in the country, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, in the past month took actions to slash operations.
Effective July 1, AA reduced Miami-Caracas roundtrip services from four daily operations to one, plus one additional Saturday service. The airline also halted service of five weekly Caracas-New York JFK flights and one weekly Caracas-Dallas/Ft. Worth flight, according to a notice the airline posted last month. The scheduled cuts initially were filed only for July, but the airline confirmed it has extended them through August. (BTN analysis extends AA's cuts to August, though they were not yet accounted for in data shared by OAG last week.)
Meanwhile, Delta effective next month plans to cut Atlanta-Caracas service from daily to "one day per week," the airline disclosed this month.
United Airlines, meanwhile, has reduced the number of seats it operates on the Houston-Caracas market by 23 percent year over year, but has maintained daily frequency on the route, according to OAG schedule data.
Including Venezuelan operators Avior Airlines and SBA Airlines, total capacity between the U.S. and Venezuela will be down nearly 48 percent year over year, based on a snapshot of OAG weekly schedule data filed for August.
The Venezuelan government has been "blocking the repatriation" of airline funds, according to the International Air Transport Association. The issue also extends to airline operators from other countries. "Right now, 24 airlines have $4.1 billion trapped in Venezuela by the country's government," an IATA spokesperson said last week.
IATA and airlines have engaged in talks with the Venezuelan government. Although IATA noted that the government has made "verbal commitments to release the blocked money," that vow, at least for now, appears hollow.
Even before the recent supply purge, Carlson Wagonlit Travel anticipated airfare growth to and from the country, reporting in its 2014 forecast that, due to the country's "high inflation rates," Venezuelan airfares would be up nearly 8 percent this year from 2013 levels.