Venezuela Delays Restrictions on U.S. Airline Flights

Venezuela delays restrictions on U.S. airline flights

CARACAS, March 30 (Xinhua) — Venezuela is to postpone the move to drastically cut the number of flights to and from the country by U.S. airlines until April 25, a government statement on Thursday said.

The restriction was due to come into force on Thursday, but Venezuela has decided to delay it pending negotiations between Venezuela’s National Civilian Airline Agency (INAC) and the U.S. Federal Airline Authority (FAA), the statement added.

An FAA delegation arrived in Venezuela last Sunday to inspect the country’s main Simon Bolivar airport and facilities at Venezuela’s largest airline, Aeropostal.

Venezuela had planned to ban all flights by Delta and Continental airlines and allow only American Airlines to operate three flights per week.

The threat to stop the flights was made in February following the FAA’s failure to raise Venezuelan airlines above category two security status. The rating causes serious inconvenience to Venezuela, as it means the country’s airlines have to hire extra category one-approved staff and aircraft to fly to the United States.

America continued to enforce this rule despite an International Civil Aviation Organization report in 2004 saying that Venezuela had restructured and modernized its airlines and security procedures.