CARACAS, Feb 18, 2026 (Net) – A plane from Spain’s Air Europa landed in Venezuela Tuesday, ac-cording to a flight tracking monitor, the first European commercial flight to arrive in the country since the United States toppled president Nicolas Maduro.
A slew of international carriers stopped flying to Venezuela after the United States warned of possible military activity there in late November — a prelude to its surprise attack on January 3.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed at Simon Bolivar International Airport, which serves the Venezue-lan capital Caracas, at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT).
Since US forces raided Venezuela and captured Maduro, US President Donald Trump has struck a coop-erative relationship with interim president Delcy Rodriguez.
Late last month he called for flights to resume to the country.
Spanish airline Iberia is evaluating security guarantees before announcing a return, according to the Spanish press.
Portugal’s TAP has said it will resume flights. Colombian airline Avianca and Panama’s Copa have al-ready restarted operations.
Hoping to prompt US flights, the Trump administration has lifted a 2019 ban on US airlines flying to the country.
