FAA Issues Warning To Airlines Flying Over Central and South America

AP Photo/Noah K. Murray

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a series of warnings to U.S. airlines on Friday, urging operators to “exercise caution” when flying over Central and South American airspace.

The alerts warned of “military activities” and possible GPS interference for airspace over a large swath of countries, including Mexico, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. Potential hazards also lie above the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, the Notices to Airmen said, clarifying that caution should be taken “at all altitudes, including during overflight and the arrival and departure phases of flight.”

The alerts took effect on Friday and will last for 60 days.

The FAA’s warnings come just weeks after the agency temporarily banned flights from entering the Eastern Caribbean airspace “due to safety-of-flight risk associated with ongoing military activity” during and after the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

An increased U.S. military presence remains in the region after the massive buildup of U.S. weapons and units into the Caribbean that preceded Maduro’s arrest.

The Pentagon has 12 warships assigned to the waters around the Caribbean, according to a Navy official, as the blockade on sanctioned oil tankers surrounding Venezuela remains in effect.

The prevalence of the U.S. military in the region previously created problems for commercial flights. In December, a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker failed to communicate its position when passing in front of a JetBlue, narrowly avoiding a collision.

No statement from the FAA or President Donald Trump’s administration clarified what, if any, military action may be the cause of such alerts, though the president has directly threatened possible military actions in both Mexico and Colombia in recent days.

“Something’s gonna have to be done with Mexico,” Trump told Fox & Friends Weekend last weekend.