BOGOTA/CARACAS (Reuters) – Colombia’s Avianca airline will restart flights to Venezuela after one of its aircraft was approached by at least one Venezuelan warplane on Friday, creating a diplomatic incident and prompting the airline to cancel flights to and from the socialist country.
Avianca said it would resume flights today, after cancelling transport to Venezuela when a passenger jet flying from Madrid to Bogota was briefly approached by Venezuelan military aircraft on Friday evening, resulting in diplomatic conversations and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordering an investigation.
“After clarifications between the governments of Colombia and Vene-zuela about the incident registered last night in Venezuelan skies with an Avianca plane, the Colombian civil aviation authority has authorized the restart of operations to and from Venezuela,” Avianca said in a statement last evening.
The South American neighbours have for years had a volatile relationship, with Venezuela’s socialist government sometimes accusing Colombia of provocation, and claims in the other direction that Caracas has supported Colombian guerrillas.
The two countries’ lengthy border is a constant source of tension.
Data from online tracker FlightRadar24 showed Avianca’s flights were avoiding Venezuela yesterday and a source from the company confirmed to Reuters that flights to Venezuela had been cancelled.
Flight data also showed the Avianca Boeing Dreamliner took a sharp turn when flying over west Venezuela around 20:00 local time (20:00 EST/00:00 GMT) on Friday, in line with a statement about the incident released by the Colombian defence ministry.
Both nations’ defence and foreign ministers discussed the plane incident, the statement said. It said Maduro “personally ordered the investigation into the case.”
“The ministers have spoken and cleared it all up, everything is normal,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said during a visit to cacao growers yesterday afternoon. “There’s no need to worry.”
Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Colombian statement cited Venezuelan authorities as saying its warplane was on a “navigation mission.”
