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Interim President Delcy Rodriguez says Venezuela will use an alternate runway at Simon Bolivar International Airport to resume commercial flights, weeks after twin earthquakes damaged the facility and killed thousands.
Rodriguez said on July 7 that the airport, located in La Guaira, a city north of Caracas, would reopen "as soon as possible" following the June 24 disaster.
The airport sits at the epicenter of the twin quakes, which toppled scores of residential buildings across the region.
"I ordered the immediate activation of an alternative plan to allow commercial flights to resume as soon as possible using the airport's parallel runway," Rodriguez said in a message posted to her Telegram account.
The airport has remained partially open since the earthquakes, handling humanitarian flights carrying aid and personnel into the disaster zone.
Commercial service has been suspended while repair crews assess and stabilize the damaged infrastructure.
The death toll from the twin earthquakes has climbed to 3,535, according to National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, who provided an update on the disaster response Monday via Telegram.
Nearly 17,000 people have been injured, and about 6,500 have been rescued since the quakes struck.
Jorge Rodriguez said 17,854 people remain homeless, in addition to nearly 18,000 others displaced by the disaster.
The figures mark one of Latin America's worst earthquakes in recent history, with thousands still missing, particularly in the severely damaged La Guaira area.
US airmen and military experts have been assisting Venezuelan authorities in efforts to reopen the airport and repair the earthquake-damaged port in La Guaira, supporting the delivery of supplies and equipment to affected communities.
Recovery operations are continuing across the disaster zone as authorities work to restore transportation links and provide shelter for those displaced by the earthquakes.
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