The airport opened in 1945 as the Maiquetía International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía). 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 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). 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 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) long by 60 metres (200 ft) 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. During the crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, continuing as of 2025, 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.