Canada’s largest airline company, Air Canada, has announced it’s suspended flights to Venezuela. In a statement released Monday (March 17) the airline says “Due to on-going civil unrest in Venezuela, Air Canada can no longer ensure the safety of its operation and has suspended flights to Caracas until further notice.”
According to the statement last flight to depart Toronto flew on Saturday March 15 and from Caracas on Sunday March 16, 2014.
Air Canada’s suspension came just a few days after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said any airline that reduced or suspended flights in and out of Venezuela would face severe measures.
Meanwhile Canada’s Foreign Affairs department website suggests a “high degree of caution” when travelling to Venezuela and notes that “Demonstrations have been occurring regularly throughout Venezuela since mid-February 2014, particularly in the cities of Caracas, Barquisimeto, Maracaibo, Merida, Valencia, San Cristobal and Maracay.”
More information:
Air Canada statement – Caracas Flights Suspended – here
CBC News – Air Canada suspends flights to Venezuela as protests continue – here
Globe and Mail – Citing domestic turmoil, Air Canada suspends service to Venezuela – here
Canada Foreign Affairs – Travel advisory for Venezuela – here
UPDATE (March 19): Globe and Mail journalist Stephanie Nolen has pointed out there may be more to the suspension than the unrest. In an article March 19 titled “Money keeps Air Canada grounded in Venezuela, not civil unrest” she points to a line in the Air Canada announcement that what was making it hard to do business were the “onerous currency restrictions imposed on all airlines preventing them from recovering their funds from Venezuela”.
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