Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) has expressed an interest in resuming its Caracas Simón Bolivar flights suspended at the beginning of June this year. Venezuela's Water and Air Transport Minister, Luis Graterol, told the local El Universal newspaper that the Italian airline had sought a meeting with his government regarding the proposed resumption of flights.
Following intense international pressure, Caracas this week announced it had held talks with other international carriers such as Copa Airlines (CM, Panamá City Tocumen International), Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International), Air France (AF, Paris CDG), United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare), Caribbean Airlines (BW, Port of Spain), Avianca (Bogotá), TAM Linhas Aéreas (São Paulo Congonhas) as well as Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) and Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas) concerning the disbursement of over USD3.5billion in funds owed.
In an announcement made via his Twitter handle, Graterol said Caracas had reached an agreement with Delta and Iberia over partial repayment of monies owed, but did not disclose how much would be repaid and at what rate.
Meanwhile, Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) has disputed Venezuelan media reports that it is planning to resume its Toronto Pearson to Caracas services. In a statement to ch-aviation, the Canadian carrier said it would consider reintroducing the route only once it is "satisfied circumstances permit and the repatriation of funds is addressed."
