Air Europa Madrid Caracas Flights Restart Feb 2026
Air Europa restarted service between Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) and Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS) on February 17, 2026, ending a suspension that removed one of the key nonstop links between Spain and Venezuela. The restart is not a full return to the prior pattern yet, it is a limited, published set of operating dates as the airline rebuilds its schedule. Travelers trying to return to Venezuela on short notice, including people dealing with expiring visas, family obligations, or time sensitive onward connections, should plan around scarcity rather than assuming daily flexibility.
Air Europa's own flight disruption notice says it is "working on the gradual reactivation" of the Caracas operation and lists the planned operating dates. For February, it states flights will operate on February 17, February 20, February 22, February 24, and February 27. For March, it lists flights on March 1, March 3, March 5, March 6, March 8, March 10, March 12, March 13, March 15, March 17, March 19, and March 20, and it says it will provide updates for flights from March 21 onward through its usual channels.
Reuters previously reported the restart and tied the suspension to rising tensions and safety concerns, framing the return as gradual and initially limited.
Who Is Affected
The most affected group is anyone holding a Madrid to Caracas booking that was canceled during the suspension window, or anyone trying to travel in the second half of February 2026 when the operation is still constrained to specific dates. Limited operating days concentrate demand, which can mean fewer open seats for reaccommodation, fewer cabin options, and less room to recover if a flight cancels or shifts.
Travelers connecting into Madrid from other European cities are also exposed, especially on separate tickets. When long haul service runs only on certain days, a missed feeder flight can strand you until the next operating date rather than the next day. That risk rises further for travelers chaining an EU leg, then Madrid to Caracas, then a regional flight onward within Venezuela, because each additional segment adds another failure point during a ramp up period.
Hotels and ground transport in the Caracas area can also see pressure when flights consolidate into fewer arrival days. If a departure slips and forces an overnight, the scramble is not just for a new flight, it can also be for a room, an airport transfer, and rebooked onward plans. That is where the second order impacts show up, capacity constraints in the air turn into inventory shocks on the ground.
What Travelers Should Do
If you are traveling in late February, treat the operating date as the anchor for your entire plan. Confirm that your specific flight is operating on one of the published dates, then align lodging, transfers, and any onward flights to that pattern with extra buffer. If you must connect in Madrid, avoid tight same day self connections, and build enough time to handle delays, baggage recheck steps, and any terminal changes at Madrid Barajas.
Use decision thresholds instead of waiting and hoping. If you have a hard deadline in Venezuela within 48 to 72 hours, and your itinerary relies on one of the limited February departures, you should price alternative routings now so you can pivot quickly if inventory collapses. If your travel is flexible, moving to March can reduce risk because Air Europa's published March list includes more operating days than the February ramp.
Over the next 24 to 72 hours, monitor three things. First, confirm your flight status through Air Europa's channels, because the airline explicitly says it will communicate updates, and the schedule is still in a rebuild phase. Second, watch fare and seat movement, because limited capacity can trigger sharp repricing and fast sellouts. Third, keep documentation ready, including booking confirmations, any cancellation notices, and receipts for disruption costs, because that paperwork is what makes airline claims, card insurance claims, or third party travel insurance claims actually work when plans break.
Background
Route restarts behave differently from normal seasonal schedule changes because the system is rebuilding constraints in layers. At the source layer, the airline is operating a limited set of dates rather than restoring full frequency immediately, which compresses demand into fewer departures and reduces reaccommodation options when something goes wrong.
Those first order constraints ripple outward. At the connections layer, fewer long haul departures from Madrid create a higher penalty for missed feeder flights, especially on separate tickets, because the next available long haul seat might be days away rather than hours away. At the crew and aircraft positioning layer, any irregular operation can take longer to unwind when an airline is running a thinner schedule, because there are fewer spare aircraft rotations to absorb a disruption. On the ground layer in Caracas, concentrated arrival days can raise the impact of even minor delays, since more travelers are trying to clear immigration, find transport, and reach hotels at the same time.
Finally, the information layer matters. Air Europa's notice explicitly separates the published February and March plan from flights after March 21, which signals that travelers should not assume the post March schedule until it is posted.