U.S. Military Action in Venezuela Raises Flight Ops Risk

Aircraft operators are urgently responding to flight safety risks raised by U.S. military action in Venezuela on Saturday morning, according to aviation security intelligence providers. Over the weekend, both the FAA and EASA issued urgent airspace closure notices extending beyond Venezuela itself along the north coast of South America and the Caribbean.

Both agencies initially imposed a full closure for their operators covering Venezuela’s Maiquetta flight information region (FIR), with EASA's latest conflict zone information bulletin specifically warning that “the presence and use of a wide range of weapons and air defence systems, combined with unpredictable state responses and the potential activation of [surface-to-air missile] systems, creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes at flight levels.”

FAA Notams issued early on Saturday morning prohibited U.S.-registered aircraft from flights in the adjoining airspace of Curacao, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago, but updated notices on Sunday replaced the complete flight bans with advisories that remain in effect through February 2.

Meanwhile, aviation security experts have been conducting risk assessments in the region at least since November, when tensions escalated between the U.S. and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The January 3 military strikes against ground targets in and around Caracas, as U.S. forces captured Maduro, have heightened the dangers posed to civil aviation.

Ongoing Tensions Raise Concerns

Although U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Sunday that the U.S. was not at war with Venezuela, but rather “at war against drug-trafficking organisations,” risks for aircraft remain. In a report issued over the weekend, aviation security intelligence group Osprey Flight Solutions said it believes “with near certainty” that both the U.S. and Venezuela will increase military deployments, including in coastal areas and the Caribbean Sea. Potential future airspace closures could also affect the FIRs of Piarco (to the northeast), Puerto Rico (north), Curacao (northwest) and Colombia (west).

Eric Schouten, founder and CEO of security intelligence provider Dyami, believes that while uncertainty in the region and associated safety concerns persist it is not the “pressure cooker” of previous months. The “precision operation” of the January 3 strike helped mitigate ongoing fallout, as well as disabling many of the country’s air defence systems, he told AIN. However, the threat of aircraft misidentification remains, as does the ongoing military priority that might “delay or even disable” civilian missions.

According to Schouten, operators are well-advised to stay informed of the fast-evolving situation through multiple trusted sources, such as risk assessment providers, to augment official published bulletins from the likes of FAA and EASA. He stressed that an organization’s ability to undertake its own informed and insightful risk assessment is essential to safe operations.