US Eases Sanctions on Conviasa, Authorizes E190 Maintenance

DALLAS – The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has eased sanctions on Conviasa (V0), allowing the flag carrier of Venezuela to enter the US for transactions pertaining to the general maintenance and ferry flights of its Embraer aircraft fleet.

The eased restrictions only apply to the airline's 15 Embraer E190 aircraft and sole Embraer Lineage 1000, a variant of the Embraer 190 regional jet airliner, and do not apply to other aircraft in the V0 fleet.

Conviasa, which operates scheduled flights out of Caracas’ Simon Bolivar Airport (CCS), is Venezuela's largest airline. V0 flies domestically as well as to destinations in the Caribbean and South America.

Easing of Restrictions

The Trump administration first sanctioned Venezuela’s state-owned airline in 2019 as part of broader sanctions against the Nicolas Maduro administration.

With the Biden administration's gradual lifting of restrictions, provision was made for Venezuela’s national carrier to operate migrant repatriation flights from the US back to Venezuela through General Licence 45A, issued under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations rules. V0 has been operating these flights since October 18, this year, under an inter-governmental agreement.

The OFAC will also allow transactions pertaining to non-commercial flights between non-US jurisdictions in the Western Hemisphere and Venezuela on the specified aircraft. The eased transactions are applicable only for V0’s flights and do not include individuals specifically designated by US authorities.

Conviasa operates five wide-bodied Airbus A340 aircraft, some of which Mehrabad International Airport (THR)-based Mahan Air (W5) maintains. V0's fleet also includes one ATR42-400 aircraft.