US warns Venezuela over threat to curb flights

CARACAS, Venezuela - The US government warned Venezuela on Tuesday it would suspend Venezuelan flights to the United States if Caracas carries out a threat to ban or restrict US carriers flying to Venezuela.

The airline spat is testing already strained ties between Washington and left-wing President Hugo Chavez, who has clashed with US officials over his alliance with Cuba and his fierce opposition to US free-market proposals in South America.

Venezuela's civil aviation authority, INAC, announced in February it would restrict or suspend access for US airlines unless the US Federal Aviation Administration lifts decade-old limits put on Venezuelan airlines by a March 30 deadline.

"Hopefully that will not happen. If that happens, it is not only possible or probable, but absolute certain the US government and Transport Department would suspend flights by Venezuelan airlines," US Ambassador to Caracas William Brownfield told reporters.

"Neither Venezuela nor the United States would win in that situation," he said.

The FAA has proposed meetings with Venezuelan officials for April 17 to resolve the dispute, the envoy said. It was unclear what specific measures US authorities would take to restrict Venezuelan flights to US airports.

The Venezuelan restrictions would trim flights by AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and completely halt operations by Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines, should they take effect.

Venezuelan authorities did not have any immediate comment on the ambassador's statement, an INAC spokesman said.

Caracas has struggled for about a decade to get the FAA to revise its 1995 ruling that the South American country had failed to fully comply with International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards.

Venezuela currently has an FAA category 2 rating under which airlines are restricted from expanding US flight services and some are required to lease aircraft from a category 1 country to fly to US airports.

Venezuela briefly canceled direct flights by US carriers in 1996 after Washington threatened to put a full ban on Venezuelan carriers flying to the United States.

Relations between the United States and oil supplier Venezuela are at one of their lowest points since Chavez came to power seven years ago promising to introduce sweeping social reforms for the poor majority.

A former soldier, Chavez accuses Washington of organizing a 2002 coup he survived and working to oust or kill him while the US government portrays the Venezuelan president as a growing threat to regional stability.

- REUTERS