Business & Economics
Caracas Pulls Operating Permits from Iberia, TAP, Avianca, LATAM, Turkish & GOL
On 26 Nov 2025 Venezuela’s civil aviation agency revoked the licenses of six foreign carriers days after they halted flights in response to a U.S. FAA security alert, severing most of the country’s remaining long-haul links.
Focusing Facts
- INAC’s Instagram bulletin dated 26-Nov-2025 lists Iberia, TAP Air Portugal, Avianca, LATAM Colombia, Turkish Airlines and Brazil’s GOL as losing all landing/overflight rights effective immediately.
- The carriers had paused service following FAA NOTAM KICZ A0043/25 issued 20-Nov-2025 warning of “potentially hazardous” military activity over Venezuelan airspace.
- Concurrent U.S. deployment: ~15,000 troops and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford positioned in Caribbean waters by late November 2025.
Context
Commercial aviation has long been an early casualty of great-power friction—Cuba suspended U.S. flights on 22 Oct 1962 and Iran barred U.S. carriers in April 1980—turning passenger routes into diplomatic pressure points. Venezuela’s move continues a twelve-year slide that has cut its international seat capacity by over 90 % since 2013, mirroring wider decoupling trends when states under sanction weaponise airspace control. Over a 100-year lens this episode may prove transient, yet it reveals that the multilateral norms built around the 1944 Chicago Convention still hinge on geopolitical trust: once that frays, even private airlines become pawns. If the standoff deepens, Venezuela could face Myanmar-style aviation isolation, locking in economic contraction and diaspora estrangement for a generation, and reminding future policymakers how quickly global connectivity can unwind under strategic rivalry.
Perspectives
Western international news outlets
e.g., Firstpost, Yahoo News UK — They frame Caracas’s permit revocations as a heavy-handed, self-isolating move that punishes travellers and signals Maduro’s growing hostility toward the West. Coverage leans on European and U.S. diplomatic quotes calling the action “disproportionate,” echoing long-standing Western criticism of Maduro while giving scant weight to U.S. military escalation that helped trigger the airline pull-outs.
Outlets highlighting U.S. aggression and defending Caracas
e.g., DT News, MercoPress — They present the bans as Venezuela’s justified response to airlines that sided with Washington amid a major U.S. military build-up and deadly anti-drug strikes near its coast. Stories stress unverified casualty figures and depict the U.S. deployment as a regime-change plot, mirroring Chavista talking points while downplaying how the ban hurts ordinary passengers.
Aviation-industry trade press
e.g., Mirage News, CAPA — They focus on flight-safety alerts and urge Caracas to restore permits so carriers can resume service once risks are mitigated. Industry pieces prioritise commercial connectivity and IATA messaging, sidestepping the broader political conflict because their readership is airlines and regulators, not the general public.