AeroMexico plane. Photo: Ivan Cholakov | Dreamstime.com
The US Federal Aviation Administration on Friday warned airlines to be cautious when flying over Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing the risks of potential military activity and GPS interference, Reuters reports.
The FAA said it issued advisories to pilots covering Mexico and Central American countries, as well as Ecuador, Colombia and certain portions of airspace over the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The warnings went into effect on Friday and will be valid for 60 days, the agency said.
Tensions between the US and regional leaders have escalated since the Trump administration staged a large-scale military mobilization in the southern Caribbean, struck Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro in a military operation.
And Donald Trump suggested the possibility of other military actions in the area, including against Colombia.
The US president said last week that drug cartels control Mexico and suggested the US could strike land targets to combat them, just the latest in a series of threats to deploy US military forces against the cartels.
Mexico responded to the FAA's warning, saying it was only a precaution and did not restrict Mexican airspace or airlines. The notice applies exclusively to US operators, and air operations in Mexico remain unaffected, the ministry said in a statement.
After the attack on Venezuela, the FAA restricted flights throughout the Caribbean, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights by major airlines. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters this week that there was good coordination between the agency and the US military before the operation in Venezuela.
Last month, a JetBlue passenger plane bound for New York performed an evasive maneuver to avoid a mid-air collision with a US Air Force refueling plane near Venezuela. JetBlue Flight 1112 had departed from the Caribbean island of Curacao and was flying about 60 km off the coast of Venezuela when the Airbus plane reported encountering the Air Force plane, which did not have its transponder activated.
Photo: Ivan Cholakov | Dreamstime.com
