Early years (1945-2012) The airport opened in 1945 as the Maiquetía International Airport (). The site had been recommended as an appropriate location for an airport by
Charles Lindbergh on behalf of
Pan Am. The USA subsidised the construction of the airport as part of the Airport Development Program. The original passenger terminal was designed by architect Luis Malaussena. In the 1950s, under the regime of dictator
Marcos Pérez Jiménez, road transport between the airport and the capital was improved by the inauguration of the
Caracas-La Guaira highway, and the La Guaira and Caracas Railway, dating from the nineteenth century, was closed. Between 1952 and 1962, two new wings were added to the passenger terminal, and the runway was expanded to . Lighting was installed on the runway and approach zones to allow night operations. A new runway was built in 1956, and in 1962 extended to long by wide. From the late 1970s until the 1980s
Air France operated a weekly service by the Anglo-French supersonic airliner
Concorde between Caracas and Paris, with a stop at
the airport of Santa Maria in the Atlantic Ocean
Azores archipelago. In the 1970s a new international terminal was constructed to offer increased capacity, with a domestic terminal opening in 1983.
Viasa, the flag-carrier of Venezuela, ceased operations on 23 January 1997. Since 2000, the airport has been undergoing major changes in order to meet international standards and to improve passenger traffic, security, immigration areas, and customs areas. Security measures have become top priority since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and departure and arrival areas are completely separate, in the lower and upper levels of the airport. Proyecto Maiquetía 2000 (Project Maiquetia 2000) was completed in 2007, adding added new customs and immigration areas, a new cargo terminal, and a connecting passageway between the domestic and international terminal. In March 2007,
Iran Air introduced service to Tehran via Damascus. It had a
codeshare agreement with
Conviasa, which took over the route seven months later. Conviasa ended its non-stop service to Damascus in August 2012.
Crisis in Venezuela (2012-2026) During the
crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, continuing , domestic airlines are laboring under tremendous difficulties because of hyperinflation and parts shortages. Many international airlines left the country, including
Aeroméxico,
Aerolíneas Argentinas,
Air Canada,
Alitalia,
Avianca,
Delta Air Lines,
Lufthansa,
LATAM, and
United Airlines, making travel to the country difficult. According to the
International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Bolivarian government has not paid US$3.8 billion to international airlines in a currency issue involving conversion of
local currency to U.S. dollars. Reasons for airlines to leave also include crime against flight crews, stolen baggage, and problems with the quality of jet fuel and maintenance of runways. In 2016, the
jetways in the international terminal were replaced with new glass-walled jetways. Following the increasing economic partnership
between Venezuela and Turkey in October 2016,
Turkish Airlines started offering direct flights from December 2016 connecting between Caracas to Istanbul (via
Havana, Cuba) in an effort to "link and expand contacts" between the two countries. By 2018, terminals in the airport lacked air conditioning and utilities such as water and electricity. Flight crews are often sent to stay in different cities to avoid crime that occurs in the area. The company charged with providing sanitation services ceased to exist, so the airport buildings were cleaned less frequently. The
Bolivarian National Guard, tasked with providing security, often extorts travelers by force. In support of President Nicolas Maduro's government,
Russian Air Force aircraft, including
Tupolev Tu-160 bombers, were deployed to the airport in early December 2018. In March 2019, two Russian planes were deployed to the airport carrying 100 troops and 35 tonnes of
matériel; they stayed until 26 June 2019, according to a Russian embassy announcement.
American Airlines, the last U.S. airline serving Venezuela, left on 15 March 2019, after its pilots refused to fly to Venezuela, citing safety issues. Two months later, the
United States Department of Transportation and
Department of Homeland Security indefinitely suspended all flights between Venezuela and the United States, due to safety and security concerns. The suspension affects mainly Venezuelan airlines that flew to
Miami:
Avior Airlines,
LASER Airlines, and
Estelar Latinoamerica. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the government announced on 3 February 2020 that the country had imposed epidemiological surveillance, restrictions and diagnostic systems to detect possible COVID-19 cases at this airport and that Venezuela would receive a diagnostic kit for the virus strain from the
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Following the
2024 Venezuelan presidential election, flights to Panama and Dominican Republic were suspended on 31 July 2024.
Post-Maduro period and the resumption of US flights (2026-present) In 2026, three weeks after the ousting of then-president
Nicolás Maduro, US President
Donald Trump ordered the country's acting president
Delcy Rodríguez to reopen flights to the Venezuelan airspace after a 7-year hiatus and scheduled international flights to Miami, Florida will be operated by
American Airlines, which last served the route in March 2019. == Airlines and destinations ==