INAC suspended flights to the Dominican Republic and Panama

• The measure will come into effect on July 31, 2024.

The National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) temporarily suspended commercial flights from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and Panama on Monday, July 29.

Authorities accused the governments of these two countries of “interference” for rejecting the results of the presidential elections issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), according to a report by INAC on its X account (formerly Twitter).

According to INAC, the measure will come into effect on July 31, 2024 at 8:00 pm (Venezuela time). This suspension of flights extends to commercial airlines.

#COMMUNICATED 🚨 In rejection of the interference of right-wing governments and based on full sovereignty, the temporary suspension of commercial air flights to and from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with Panama and the Dominican Republic is announced ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/J3LpXZazfx

— National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) (@InacVzla) July 30, 2024

Flights that served as a bridge to the US

Flights from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and Panama served as a bridge to reach the United States, following the suspension of flights between the two countries since 2019.

In Venezuela, one of the international airlines with the greatest presence in the air market is the Panamanian Copa Airlines.

“Counting all our frequencies, we have an average occupancy rate of 78% in Venezuela,” the company said. Banking and Business in 2023.

In February of that year, the Panamanian airline that flew to 73 different destinations celebrated 25 years of operations in Venezuela. During 2022, it registered more than 420,000 passengers transported to and from Venezuela.

In addition to Copa Airlines, Another airline that has flights to Panama and the Dominican Republic is the Venezuelan Turpial Airlines, since 2022.

EFE/ Welcome Velasco

Suspension of diplomatic relations

The suspension of flights occurred in the context of the doubts generated by the presidential election in Venezuela. The president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, announced the withdrawal of his diplomatic staff from Caracas. He also added that he would put relations between the two countries on “suspense.”

Meanwhile, Panama’s Foreign Minister, Javier Martinez-Acha, He asked that the will of the Venezuelan people be respected following the results announced by the CNE.

“With democracy, you eat, you educate, you heal, and you can also lose. In an election, the important thing is not only to be declared the winner, it is much more important to be right and have the votes to win. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected,” Martínez-Acha said on his official account on the social network X.

EFE/ Welcome Velasco

For his part, the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, insisted that “transparency must be the basis of the legitimacy” of the Venezuelan electoral process.

“A recount of the minutes with international verification is essential to recognize the result,” he added in X.

Due to the statements of non-recognition of the results, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry announced that broke diplomatic relations with seven countriesincluding the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

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