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Home » News » Bowing To Pilot Pressure, American Airlines Abandons Venezuela
American AirlinesNewsVenezuela

Bowing To Pilot Pressure, American Airlines Abandons Venezuela

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 16, 2019November 14, 2023 6 Comments

a group of men in uniform

American Airlines quickly suspended service to Venezuela after its pilots were instructed by union leaders to refuse all trips to Venezuela.

The situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate. In response, the U.S. State Department issued a new travel warning advising against all non-essential travel to the Bolivarian Republic. As reported by The Foward Cabin, AA Captain Dennis Tajer of the Allied Pilots Association (APA) sent a note to pilots earlier this week instructing them not to accept any trips to Venezuela:

In light of the U.S. State Department’s Level 4 Travel Advisory issued this week regarding Venezuela, APA President CA Dan Carey directs all APA pilots to cease flight operations into Venezuela. In its Travel Advisory, the U.S. Department of State cites “crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, and arbitrary arrest and detention of U.S. citizens.” The Travel Advisory also notes that “Violent crime, such as homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping, and carjacking, is common,” and recommends that U.S. residents “traveling in Venezuela should depart Venezuela.” The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has suspended operations and has withdrawn diplomatic personnel from Venezuela, and is not providing any consular services.

Until further notice, if you are scheduled, assigned, or reassigned a pairing into Venezuela, refuse the assignment by calling your Chief Pilot or IOC Duty Pilot. Inform them that you are refusing the assignment in accordance with the direction of the U.S. Department of State.

APA will provide follow-on information as soon as it becomes available.

To reiterate: Do not accept any trips to Venezuela.

Captain Dennis Tajer
Allied Pilots Association (APA)
APA Communications Committee – Chairman
APA Industry Analysis Committee

It only took one day for AA to announce it was suspending flights to Caracas.

The safety and security of our team members and customers is always number one and American will not operate to countries we don’t consider safe.

Interesting, though, that this decision came only after the pilots seemed to force AA’s hand…

CONCLUSION

As Venezuela continues to descend deeper into despair, I expect the dwindling number of carriers who still serve Caracas will gradually pull out. For now, the last link between North America and Venezuela has been severed. You can still reach Caracas via Panama City on COPA.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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6 Comments

  1. William Reply
    March 16, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    Panama is part of North America.

    • Matthew Reply
      March 16, 2019 at 4:18 pm

      Technically, but I distinguished North from Central in this context.

    • Livu Reply
      March 17, 2019 at 7:04 pm

      No panama is central america.

      • stogieguy7 Reply
        March 18, 2019 at 9:59 am

        There is no continent of “Central America” (which is a region); Panama is at the southern tip of North America.

  2. Vince Reply
    March 16, 2019 at 10:26 pm

    Technically, Estelar and Avior fly nonstop from both JFK and MIA to CCS, so there’s still a North America link.

  3. Mike Reply
    March 17, 2019 at 6:15 am

    Ultimately the right thing to do. The key to this is the US no longer has any diplomatic presence in VZ, As such, if the VZ government decided to add pressure to the diplomatic situation by creating an issue with the AA crew or the aircraft it would be difficult to resolve without the US Embassy staff.

    Like all other carriers, I assume AA was not able to move funds out of VZ, but wanted to wait as long as possible before exiting the country in order to have a better position should the current government fall.

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