President Trump took to social media on Saturday to warn airlines that they should consider the whole of Venezuelan airspace closed as fears grow that the United States could be planning a major escalation in its war on ‘narco-terrorists’ and the Maduro regime.
In a short message, Trump wrote: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The post came just over a week after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a safety alert to U.S. airline pilots, warning them to avoid Venezuelan airspace until further notice.
The safety notice, known as a ‘Notice to Air Men’ or NOTAM, applied to what is known as the Maiquetia Flight Information Region, which also goes by the code SVZM. Spanning 1,204,815 square kilometres, the Maiquetia FIR covers all of Venezuela as well as its territorial waters.
Warning of a “potentially hazardous situation,” the NOTAM stated that pilots should exercise caution at all flight levels due to “the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in and around Venezuela.”
U.S. airlines were outright banned from flying to or from Venezuela in 2019, but some carriers were still using Venezuelan airspace for overflights until only very recently.
The NOTAM was not, however, an outright ban on using Venezuelan airspace, and was simply an advisory.
The alert was, though, enough to convince a slew of international carriers, including the likes of Air Europa, Iberia, and Turkish Airlines to temporarily suspend their flights to Venezuela.
In response, Venezuelan authorities threatened to ban these airlines from operating flights to the country unless they resumed regular scheduled flights within 48 hours.
After the ultimatum’s deadline came and went without any response from the airline, Venezuela banned six airlines, including Avianca, GOL, Iberia, LATAM, TAP Air Portugal, and Turkish Airlines.
President Trump’s social media post has not been backed up with any further information from the Federal Aviation Administration, and U.S. airlines are still officially allowed to overfly Venezuela.
