CARACAS - Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez said the international airport damaged in last month's twin earthquakes would reopen as soon as possible using an alternative runway.
Simon Bolivar International Airport is in La Guaira, north of Caracas and the epicenter of the June 24 quakes that toppled scores of residential buildings and killed nearly 3,700 people.
One of Latin America's worst earthquake disasters has left thousands of people homeless and thousands more still missing, especially in badly damaged La Guaira, where families are still digging in the rubble.
The airport has been partially open to humanitarian flights.
"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 on her Telegram account.
US airmen and military experts have been helping to reopen the airport and also repair the quake-hit port in La Guaira to facilitate delivery of supplies and equipment.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, US embassy Charge d'Affaires John Barrett said US officials were already in talks with American commercial airlines to resume flights.
"There is some work to do in terms of the infrastructure to support commercial operations at the airport," he said, without giving a precise date.
US Southern Command chief General Francis Donovan said US military personnel were still assisting with air traffic control and ground cargo operations at the airport.
Around 2,000 US troops have been deployed in Venezuela to help with disaster relief, and US helicopters and planes often land at the airport.
- AFP