Colombia airline halts Caracas flights on mid-air intercept

Colombia's flagship airline has grounded all flights to Caracas after a mid-air intercept of one of its planes by Venezuela's air force.

Avianca said that it's also rerouting several flights to Europe to avoid Venezuelan air space until further notice.

"We're waiting for them to guarantee the security conditions required to operate," Avianca spokeswoman Gilma Usuga told The Associated Press.

The incident took place on a Bogota-bound flight that departed from Madrid. The Boeing 787 was flying at a high altitude near Venezuela's western border with Colombia when at 7:10 PM local time (00:10 GMT) yesterday another aircraft was spotted on radar flying at a short distance.
 

The pilot notified Colombian aviation authorities and sharply diverted from the scheduled flight path. Four minutes later, the military aircraft took off and the plane resumed its course, the Colombian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

More than 90 minutes after the flight landed safely in Bogota, Venezuela's air defense authorities responded to repeated calls from their Colombian counterparts to say that the military aircraft was on a routine patrol.

Venezuelan officials have yet to comment on the incident, which comes amid a tension-filled standoff between President Nicolas Maduro and his opponents over the decision to suspend a recall referendum against the embattled socialist leader.

Maduro frequently accuses neighboring Colombia of plotting with his critics to undermine his rule. Relations between the two nations have been hit by a number of crises over the past decade as Venezuela's role as Latin America's leftist stalwart has clashed with Colombia's traditionally staunch support for the United States.

Colombia' Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said he spoke to his Venezuelan counterpart, Gen. Vladimir Padrino, who promised a full investigation. The two countries' foreign ministers also talked to each other.

The two countries have agreed to strengthen their early warning communications systems, the Colombian Defense Ministry added.

Avianca's decision affects multiple daily flights between Caracas and Bogota and Lima, Peru as well as flights to the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados, which is near Venezuela.