FAA lifts Venezuela airline restrictions
Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:56 PM ET
CARACAS, Venezuela, April 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Friday lifted long-running restrictions on Venezuelan airlines flying to U.S. airports, as it raised Venezuela's safety rating to Category 1.
"This is excellent news for the thousands of passengers who fly between the United States and Venezuela," the U.S. embassy in Venezuela said in a statement giving notice of the change.
Venezuela had threatened to restrict flights by U.S. airlines to its airports by April 25 unless the restrictions were lifted.
The FAA announcement comes despite a bitter war of words between leftist President Hugo Chavez and top State Department officials.
Venezuela's INAC aviation authority in February said it would restrict flights by American Airlines (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Delta Airlines (DALRQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) and Continental Airlines (CAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to the South American nation.
The measure came in reaction to the FAA's 1995 decision to give Venezuela a Category 2 safety rating, which restricted Venezuelan flights to the United States.
Airlines in countries under this status must lease aircraft from a Category 1 country to fly to U.S.
