Six airlines cancelled their routes with Venezuela on Saturday, after the United States warned civil aviation about an “increase in military activity” amid the deployment of US forces in the Caribbean, the airlines’ association said. Spanish carrier Iberia, Portugal’s TAP, Colombia’s Avianca, Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean Airlines, Brazil’s GOL and Chile’s Latam cancelled their operations, said Marisela de Loaiza, president of the Venezuelan Association of Airlines (ALAV).
She did not specify how long the suspension will last. For now, Panama’s Copa, Air Europa, Turkish Airlines, Venezuelan carrier Laser and Spain’s PlusUltra continue operating, De Loaiza said. Venezuelan airline Avior, which flies to Bogotá and Curaçao, said that it is still “operating normally.”
The United States has deployed to the Caribbean the world’s largest aircraft carrier along with a flotilla of warships and fighter jets for anti-drug operations, which Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denounced as a “threat” aimed at forcing his ouster. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday urged aircraft flying through Venezuelan airspace to “exercise extreme caution” due to the “deteriorating security situation and increased military activity in Venezuela and the surrounding region.”
“The threats could pose a potential risk to aircraft at all altitudes, including during overflight, arrival and departure phases of flight, and/or to airports and aircraft on the ground,” the FAA said. The United States plans to designate on Monday as a terrorist organization a drug-trafficking cartel allegedly led by Maduro.
Since September, US forces have attacked more than 20 vessels allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, causing the deaths of 83 people. In a statement, ALAV urged people “who have tickets with the different airlines that operate in Venezuela, and whose flights are scheduled for the coming days or weeks,” to “stay alert to any notice from their airline.”
“International commercial flights could be affected by activities unrelated to civil aviation that are being carried out in the airspace,” ALAV added. On the website of Maiquetía International Airport, which serves Caracas, Saturday’s flights by TAP and Avianca appear as cancelled.
