Avianca said Saturday that it had grounded all flights to Caracas, Venezuela, after a Venezuelan Air Force jet intercepted one of its planes. The airline said it was also rerouting several flights to avoid Venezuelan airspace until further notice. “We’re waiting for them to guarantee the security conditions required to operate,” said an Avianca spokeswoman. An Avianca Boeing 787 that had left Madrid for Bogotá, Colombia was flying at a high altitude Friday near Venezuela’s western border with Colombia when another aircraft was spotted on radar a short distance away. The airline pilot notified the Colombian aviation authorities and sharply diverted from the scheduled flight path. Four minutes later, the military aircraft veered away, and the passenger plane resumed its course, Colombia’s Defence Ministry said. <br/>
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Turkish Airlines’ long-term CE Temel Kotil has resigned to become head of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), a centre of technology in design, development, manufacturing and after-sales support in Turkey. The carrier said Oct 21 that it has appointed Bilal Eksi as GM. Eksi, who was assigned as head of overhaul workshops in 2003, “led a significant organisation carrying out the maintenance of aircraft engines, landing gears and all components. Mr. Eksi, who has been assigned as the chief ground operations officer at Turkish Airlines after a period of 2 years, thanks to his accomplished works, carried out projects particularly in improvement of the on-time departure performance.” Kotil began his career an aeronautical engineer. In 2003, he became VP of Turkish Airlines. By April 2005 he was promoted to CE. <br/>