When Erika Rolo heard that the United States would restart direct commercial flights to Venezuela, she began obsessively checking the American Airlines website.
For months, she saw nothing. Then, just over a week ago, Ms. Rolo, a Houston resident who was born in Venezuela, found one: American Airlines 3599 from Miami to Caracas. She pounced, worried it would sell out quickly.
“I have the tickets!” she exclaimed in a call with her parents, who live in Caracas, the capital.
On Thursday, Ms. Rolo joined revelers inside Miami International Airport, where they were feted with arepas, other fried delicacies and branded cookies that said, “New Service to Caracas” before she boarded the first nonstop commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela in nearly seven years.
“It’s so emotional,” she said, settling into seat 16F and holding one of the small Venezuelan flags passed out to passengers as they walked down the jet bridge.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the flight departed, officials from American Airlines, Miami-Dade County, the Trump administration and the Venezuelan government celebrated the most recent step in re-establishing ties between the two countries.
It was the latest remarkable development between two countries that a few months ago were on the verge of an armed conflict, with the United States capturing and arresting Venezuela’s leader.
“For nearly seven years, there have been no direct commercial flights between our countries,” Natalia Molano, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said at the news conference. “Under President Trump and his leadership, we’re changing that today.”
What was not mentioned: It was Mr. Trump, during his first term, who banned commercial flights to Venezuela during an earlier standoff with Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president until he was seized by U.S. military forces in January.
For decades, American Airlines and other major carriers reaped outsized profits in Venezuela, benefiting from the country’s artificially elevated currency exchange rate. Venezuelans’ cultural affinity with South Florida helped make American Airlines’ hub in Miami particularly profitable.
The distortions created by Venezuela’s byzantine currency controls meant that Venezuelans with access to U.S. dollars could buy tickets for a fraction of their real cost. That created a travel bonanza to popular Venezuelan destinations such as Disney World and the Aventura Mall outside Miami.
At its peak, in early 2014, American Airlines operated 48 weekly flights from Venezuela. The collapse of the Venezuelan economy later turned the boom into a bust.
A fall in oil prices led Mr. Maduro’s government to stop allowing foreign carriers to exchange the nearly worthless national currency, the bolívar, that they earned through ticket sales for U.S. dollars. The move trapped in Venezuela the equivalent of nearly $4 billion owed to the airlines.
Airlines drastically cut routes — and then in 2019, Mr. Trump banned commercial flights from Venezuela to the U.S., citing safety concerns. The Trump administration lifted that restriction this year without explaining whether the safety concerns had been resolved.
The deepening alliance between the United States and Venezuela has led several airlines to reestablish flights this year to what was once one of the world’s most isolated countries. None, however, hold as much significance for the Venezuelan psyche as the American Airlines flight from Miami to Caracas, a symbol of a more prosperous, consumer-oriented nation.
“We’re witnessing one of the most concrete, tangible and very public expressions of mutual recognition in this new phase of bilateral relations,” Félix Plasencia, the new Venezuelan ambassador to the U.S., said. “This flight marks the transition from dialogue to action.”
Thursday’s flight was mostly a collection of U.S. government officials, American Airlines employees and news media. For now, American Airlines will operate a daily nonstop flight between Miami and Caracas, increasing that to twice daily on May 21.
On Thursday in Caracas, White House officials were scheduled to meet with Delcy Rodríguez, the acting leader of Venezuela, and on Friday, with executives from oil, gas and mining companies. The officials were expected to announce several agreements expanding operations of U.S. oil companies in Venezuela and paving the way for U.S. mining companies to operate in the country.
Amid the pomp and circumstance, though, some Venezuelan exiles expressed frustration that they could not take advantage of the new flights because they were still fearful of Mr. Maduro’s repressive Socialist Party, which remains in power under Ms. Rodríguez.
Daniella Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, alluded to these concerns at the news conference and said many in the Venezuelan-American community are still waiting for the country’s transition to a free and open society.
“What they dream of is the day they can fly to a free Venezuela,” she said, “a Venezuela where democracy is restored, the will of the people is respected, institutions are strengthened, and where families are no longer forced to live apart.”
Anatoly Kurmanaev contributed reporting.
