Avianca, TAP and Gol follow Iberia’s lead and cancel their flights to Caracas
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 23, 2025 / Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío warned this Saturday about the “danger” of a possible US military aggression to “violently overthrow” the government headed by Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
“The danger of military and terrorist aggression against Venezuela is growing, with the aim of violently overthrowing the government of that sister nation. A United States coup against Our America and its long road to independence,” the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said on social media.
For the past two months, the United States has maintained a large-scale military deployment in Caribbean waters near Venezuela under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking.
The US campaign began in September and, to date, has consisted of bombing civilian boats allegedly linked to illicit drug trafficking. These attacks have spread to Pacific waters and have so far left more than eighty people dead.
Cuba, a historic ally of Chavismo, has warned since the beginning of the tensions that what it considers Washington’s “pretexts” for a possible attack on Venezuela “cannot be accepted legally or morally”.
Several airlines in Europe and America cancelled their flights to Venezuela on Saturday after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued an international advisory the day before urging “extreme caution” when flying over the South American country and the southern Caribbean Sea.
The Spanish airline Iberia was the first to make the decision to cancel its flights to Venezuela — the first of which was scheduled for next Monday – and to announce that it will assess the situation to decide when to resume operations. Sources at the company told EFE that Iberia made this decision in line with what other airlines are doing in response to the situation in Venezuela.
Iberia operates five commercial flights to Venezuela each week. Friday and Sunday are the only days on which there were no scheduled flights to that country, according to the sources consulted.
For its part, the Portuguese airline TAP cancelled a flight scheduled for today and another for next Tuesday bound for Venezuela. A TAP source told EFE that they had taken this measure to ensure the safety of passengers and crew, “in accordance with international recommendations”.
TAP confirms that flights TP170, scheduled for 22 and 25 November to Venezuela, have been cancelled. This decision is based on information issued by the United States aviation authorities, which indicates that safety conditions in Venezuelan airspace are not guaranteed, especially in the Maiquetía flight information region,” he explained.
The source from the airline, which is state-controlled and in the process of reprivatisation, assured that all passengers were informed of the cancellation of these flights and will be able to request a refund, while expressing regret for “the inconvenience caused”.
“We have not cancelled flights for the next two days; we are assessing the situation depending on security conditions.”
Similarly, Colombian airline Avianca cancelled its flights on Sunday, while Wingo said it was continuing to operate normally in the neighbouring country. “We have cancelled today’s flights due to operational adjustments and are assessing the situation like all airlines,” a source at Avianca, which has two daily flights from Bogotá to Caracas, told EFE.
Wingo, another Colombian airline that also flies to Venezuela, has not cancelled its flights at this time and is monitoring the situation closely. “We have not cancelled flights for the next two days; we are evaluating the situation depending on security conditions, etc.,” a company spokesperson told EFE.
In addition, Brazil’s Gol announced that it has cancelled its flights to Caracas scheduled for this weekend.
Gol had scheduled a flight this Saturday from Guarulhos International Airport, in the São Paulo metropolitan area, to the Venezuelan capital, and another on Sunday, but both were cancelled, according to sources at the company who spoke to EFE.
The airline informed passengers with tickets for those flights that they can “reschedule their trips, request a credit or ask for a refund directly”.
Cuba, a historic ally of Chavismo, has warned since the beginning of the tensions that what it considers Washington’s “pretexts” for a possible attack on Venezuela “cannot be accepted legally or morally”.
This Saturday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil shared a letter sent by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to Maduro on the eve of his birthday, in which he stated that Caracas “will emerge victorious” against what he described as “new imperial threats”.
Translated by GH
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