Air Europa (UX, Palma de Mallorca) has temporarily suspended ticket sales in Venezuela owing to ongoing difficulties in converting the local Venezuelan Bolivar into foreign currency. Julio Fernandez, a spokesman for the airline’s parent, Globalia, told Bloomberg newswire that the carrier has more than USD100million tied up in the country. The crunch has affected numerous carriers, among them American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth), Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) and Copa Airlines (CM, Panamá City Tocumen International). In light of the ongoing constraints, some airlines, such as Avianca (Bogotá), have moved to acquire real estate in Venezuela to invest revenue it couldn’t repatriate. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), international airlines are owed the equivalent of USD2.6billion at the official exchange rate of VEF6.3 per dollar. In line with predecessor Hugo Chavez, the socialist government of Nicholas Maduro has increasingly sought to blame its mounting economic and social woes on opposition parties and foreign sabotage.