The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has issued a warning against overflights due to a “possible hazardous situation.” Meanwhile, uncertainty continues about that country from the Donald Trump Administration, following Washington’s large naval deployment in the vicinity of Venezuelan territorial waters to participate in what the United States calls Operation Southern Spear against drug trafficking. Iberia, Avianca, TAP and Gol have announced that they are canceling their flights this Saturday to Caracas.
The FAA does not go so far as to ban flights, but advises airlines to “exercise caution” due to a “deteriorating security situation and increasing military activity in or around Venezuela.” “The threats could pose a potential risk to aircraft at all altitudes, including the takeoff and landing phases,” as well as to the airports themselves and planes on the ground.
The United States notice, which will remain in effect until February 19, does require airlines to notify the regulatory body 72 hours in advance if any of their planes plan to enter Venezuelan airspace, and in that case provide specific details.
In Venezuela, suspensions of flights to or from Caracas have begun to occur. The airlines Iberia, Avianca, TAP and Gol have canceled this Saturday’s schedule, although others continue to operate. The Venezuelan Airlines Association reported that “international commercial flights could be affected by activities outside of civil aviation that are carried out in the airspace of Venezuela (Maiquetía),” based on the notice issued by the United States.
In a statement they urge passengers with tickets to or from Venezuela, and whose flights are scheduled for the coming days or weeks, to be attentive to any notice from the airlines. “We remain vigilant for any new information that may arise and ask for patience and understanding from users.” The National Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Venezuela has not provided information on the measures taken in response to the US warning.
US airlines have not maintained direct flights to Venezuela since 2019, but some of them continued to fly over the airspace of the Caribbean country en route to other countries on the continent. American Airlines has indicated that it stopped crossing Venezuelan territory last month. Another of the major airlines in the United States, Delta Airlines, stated that it has avoided these overflights “for a long time.” The third, United Airlines, has not commented at the moment.
The US air authority explains that since September an increase in interference has been detected in Venezuela in the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), used by aircraft to guide themselves on their routes. Such interference, the FAA notes, can have lasting effects on a flight. The regulatory body also cites as a risk reason “activity associated with increasing military preparations in Venezuela,” which has completed “multiple military maneuvers and ordered the mass mobilization of thousands of soldiers and reserve forces.”
The FAA statement gives rise to the , where US forces carry out a campaign that the United States describes as combating drug trafficking and that has sunk at least twenty alleged drug boats in international waters of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. These extrajudicial military attacks, which many experts, legislators and human rights defenders denounce as illegal, have killed more than eighty people.
In Colombia, the national civil aviation authority has assured that both the organization and the airlines adjust routes and procedures “so that all flights remain safe.” Among other measures, commercial airlines are instructed to notify “when they consider it pertinent, with a minimum of 72 hours in advance, the specific details of information that may affect the development of planned flights” and to immediately report any incident or risk experienced in the area included in the FAA notice.
Although Washington maintains that the objective of its Lanza del Sur operation is the fight against drug trafficking, others suspect, including Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro himself, that it is an initiative to force the departure of the Chavista leader, either through psychological pressure or through direct actions. In particular, the arrival last week of the Ford, the largest and most modern aircraft carrier in the world, has triggered speculation that Trump, who has already authorized the CIA to carry out covert missions on Venezuelan soil, could order some type of action in the territory of the Caribbean country.
The State Department in February included several drug cartels — including the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — on its list of international terrorist organizations. Washington alleges to justify its campaign against the alleged drug gangs that it is in a war with these groups and that their members are enemy combatants. Last week he also included the Soles cartel on the list, an entity that accuses Maduro of being at the forefront as the leader of drug trafficking in Venezuela. The inclusion will become effective starting this Monday.
