LATAM Airlines Group has announced that it will pull out of the Venezuelan market with effect from August 1 citing "the complex macroeconomic situation that the region is currently going through".

The Latin American carrier said its LATAM Airlines Brasil (JJ, São Paulo Congonhas) unit completed its last São Paulo Guarulhos-Caracas Simón Bolivar return service on Saturday, May 28. LATAM Airlines Perú (LP, Lima International) and LATAM Airlines (LA, Santiago de Chile) will conclude their respective services to the Venezuelan capital, from Lima International and from Santiago de Chile via Guayaquil, by July 31. The withdrawal is indefinite and any return will be dependent on a marked improvement in the Venezuelan economy, it added.

LATAM's announcement comes days after Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) announced it would end its current 3x weekly Frankfurt International-Caracas service with effect from June 18.

Over the past three years, several North American, South American, and European carriers have either withdrawn or severely curtailed their services to Venezuela. Among the reasons cited include increased difficulties in expatriating foreign currency generated through the sale of tickets locally.

IATA estimates Caracas still owes foreign carriers USD3.9 billion in unpaid ticket revenues that date back to 2012.

Grappling with a chronic drought and low oil prices, Nicolas Maduro's socialist regime blames a conspiracy between the United States and local business interests for the country's continued economic malaise.