Last foreign carriers halt flights to Venezuela after Trump’s airspace ban

Copa, Wingo, Satena, and Boliviana halt Venezuela flights, citing navigation awesome issues and information concerns.

Bogota, Colombia – The past planetary airlines flying to Venezuela person suspended routes to the country, days aft United States President Donald Trump declared the South American country’s airspace closed.

Panamanian bearer Copa and its Colombian fund subsidiary Wingo announced Wednesday evening that routes to Caracas would beryllium suspended connected December 4 and 5, portion Colombian authorities hose Satena and Bolivian flagship bearer Boliviana de Aviacion besides cancelled flights connected Thursday.

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“Due to intermittent problems contiguous with 1 of the navigation signals during its formation to Caracas… [Copa and Wingo] took the preventative determination to temporarily suspend flights to and from this city,” wrote Copa and Wingo successful statements.

The companies added that the interruptions “at nary clip compromised operational safety”, with a spokesperson telling Al Jazeera that craft from some carriers had been affected by the awesome problems.

On Thursday, Colombian authorities hose Satena suspended its way to Valencia  – Venezuela’s third-largest metropolis – portion Boliviana besides cancelled its formation to Caracas. Neither has made a nationalist connection astatine the clip of publication.

Following the suspensions, nary planetary carriers are flying to Venezuela, though respective nationalist airlines proceed to run planetary routes.

The suspensions besides travel a 90-day informing issued connected November 21 by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of risks to commercialized planes flying successful Venezuelan airspace, which prompted respective large carriers to suspend flights.

The FAA cited “the worsening information concern and heightened subject enactment successful oregon astir Venezuela” amid a monolithic build-up of US forces successful the Southern Caribbean.

‘So overmuch uncertainty’

On Saturday, Trump unilaterally declared Venezuelan airspace “closed successful its entirety”. Copa, Wingo, Satena and Boliviana were the lone planetary carriers to proceed routes to Venezuela pursuing these warnings.

The cancellations dealt a caller stroke to members of Venezuela’s diaspora who had already faced question disruptions to plans to instrumentality location for the holidays. Others who had already been visiting the state are present struggling to instrumentality home.

“Many radical person shared their concerns implicit the cancellation of these flights,” said Juan Carlos Viloria Doria, vice president of Venezuelans successful Barranquilla, a web of migrants successful Colombia. “At this clip of twelvemonth successful particular, radical privation to reunite with their household and friends for Christmas. It is unfortunate that owed to the governmental situation, Venezuelans indispensable unrecorded with truthful overmuch uncertainty.”

The cancellations complicate question plans, particularly for those successful Venezuela who whitethorn person to undertake risky overland journeys.

Viloria called connected Venezuelans to program journeys successful coordination with family, friends, and migrant networks, arsenic good arsenic to consult authoritative accusation from authorities sources.

Colombia’s Venezuelan migrant assemblage of astir 2.8 cardinal is the largest successful the world, and galore are waiting with bated enactment arsenic tensions turn betwixt Washington and Caracas.