The decision of the US government to prohibit all its civil aircraft from flying in the Maiquetía FIR, the airspace that covers practically the entire Venezuelan territoryhas raised doubts about how far the United States’ ability to impose restrictions beyond its own territory extends.
The order was formalized under Title 49 of the United States Code and in regulation 14 CFR 91.1609, a legal mechanism that allows President Donald Trump restrict air operations from your jurisdiction when it considers that there is an “extreme risk to the safety of civil aviation.”
From this legal framework, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States is not closing Venezuelan airspace – something that only the Venezuelan State could do.but it is closing access to its own planes and generating a domino effect in international aviation.
The announcement occurred amid a significant increase in tension between both governments, with a North American military deployment in the Caribbean, public warnings from Trump about a “total closure of the airspace around Venezuela” and new messages aimed at isolating the Maduro government in the midst of the prolonged political crisis.
International effect of the closure of Venezuelan airspace
The FAA measure, initially technical, establishes that US aircraft cannot enter, fly over or operate in Venezuelaand this includes commercial, private, charter and cargo flights.
Each movement requires special authorization, which is only granted in humanitarian, diplomatic or national security cases.
Although the order directly affects only North American aircraft and operators, in practice many airlines from other countries have also chosen to avoid Venezuelan airspace due to insurance policies, risk audits, and internal protocols based on alerts from the FAA, the European EASA and Transport Canada.
In this way, a measure designed to protect US aircraft ends up having a global impact, reducing international traffic that crosses Venezuela and modifying routes to South America.
Why can the US make decisions about another country’s FIR?
The United States government has the legal authority to regulate any aircraft registered in its territory or operated by American companies, regardless of where in the world they fly.. And you can prevent them from entering any area you consider dangerous.
These types of restrictions are not exclusive to the Venezuelan case: the FAA maintains similar prohibitions for Syria, North Korea, part of Somalia, Iraq and areas in armed conflict.
However, in the Venezuelan case the measure has a clear geopolitical component, amplified by the military context in the region.
“It is a political countermeasure, not just a security issue”
Ileana Rodríguez, international analyst at Tecnológico de Monterrey, considers that the FAA order is a measure that should be read in a political key: “It is part of the pressure from the United States on the Maduro government. They should sit down and talk.”
The specialist affirms that the ban works as a countermeasure, a form of covert sanction. “It is justified by the level of drug trafficking to the United States, but it is not the only argument,” he said in statements to the media. Millennium.
The closure of airspace occurs at a time of unprecedented tension. Trump has openly suggested that Venezuelan territory is surrounded by military surveillance.
