| WASHINGTON
United
Airlines will end its daily flight service to Venezuela in July, further
isolating the crisis-hit South American country from international
travel after the exit of many major airlines in recent years.
Many
airlines have left after a protracted dispute over billions of dollars
they say the government owes them. They say President Nicolas Maduro's
administration has failed to reimburse companies in hard currency for
ticket sales in local currency, as per strict currency controls in the
socialist nation.
United, which
flies daily between Caracas and Houston'sGeorge Bush Intercontinental
Airport, confirmed to Reuters that it was halting that route, though
said it was not because of any payment dispute.
While
the flight is popular with Texas-based oil executives and Venezuelans
living in the United States, few tourists travel to the crisis-stricken
country and flights often have low occupancy.
"In
every market we serve, we continually review demand for service and
because our Houston-Caracas service is not meeting our financial
expectations we have decided to suspend it, effective July 1," United
spokesman Charles Hobart said in an email to Reuters.
In
addition to currency disputes and low occupancy on flights to
Venezuela, airlines also fret about security for their crews on the
ground.
Unrest
prompted by food shortages has resulted in the deaths of at least 64
people since April. On Saturday, a few hundred activists staged a
protest in western Caracas.
United
in April added a one-hour stop in the Caribbean island of Aruba to its
Houston-to-Caracas leg, a move analysts said was to ensure crews would
not have to stay overnight in Venezuela. Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment