Venezuela: Airlines want their money back

Airlines have a question for US regulators: Mind if we collude a bit? The carriers have made an unusual request of the US DoT: They want antitrust immunity for one year so they can collectively discuss ways to retrieve US$3.8b currently held hostage by Venezuela’s deep economic slide. Since 2013, Venezuelan officials have virtually halted the repatriation of past ticket sales made in bolivars, the local currency. Inflation has soared and foreign currency reserves have dwindled to $12b, as the government of President Nicolás Maduro imposed various currency exchange rates and the economy fell into disarray and food shortages. As a result, the flow of money homeward has slowed to a trickle for many multinational corporations operating in Venezuela. Authorities first required government approval for the repatriation of foreign company sales in 2003. Over the past 21 months, Maduro’s government allowed only two small payments to a pair of foreign carriers, said Jason Sinclair, a spokesman for the IATA. Airlines that previously negotiated for payment individually are now hoping a united front can offer more leverage. “Individual airline approaches to the Venezuelan government thus far have been unavailing,” IATA’s general counsel, Jeffrey Shane, wrote in a Sept. 22 filing with the DOT. Antitrust immunity “would permit the airlines to consider approaches to the problem, which they have not been permitted to explore together before now.” Story has further details.<br/>