CARACAS – Venezuela will suspend international flight operations until February 13 of next year, except for five authorized destinations, in all airports at the national level according to a statement released by the nation’s National Institute of Civil Aviation (INAC) on its Twitter account @InacVzla late on Wednesday.

This way, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Mexico, Turkey, and Iran were cleared exclusively for “commercial air operations,” while the route to the Los Roques archipelago was surprisingly suspended as the sole domestic destination after having been cleared just a week ago.

Sources from the local tourism sector have noted that while the authorized destinations open a significant number of air connections, especially with the US, the available flights will be benefiting in large part the repatriation needs of the country, both for those foreigners still in Venezuela and for facilitating the return of stranded Venezuelan nationals abroad.

Separately, the Vice Minister of Land Transportation, Claudio Farías, announced on Wednesday that all bus terminals across Venezuela will resume operations starting on November 30 after suspending activities for nearly nine months due to the measures taken by the administration of Nicolás Maduro in a bid to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak from spreading further.

Venezuela’s flight operations were brought to a standstill in mid-March when the oil-rich South American country decreed a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.