Venezuela curtails flights to Carcas by US airlines
12 Sep 2008
US carriers, American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines have been informed by the Venezuela National civil aviation institute president Jose Martinez that they will have to reduce flights to the country's capital Caracas by the end of this month.
The action comes even as a dispute between the US and Venezuela over airport security intensifies.
Martinez informed the carriers that his agency was ordering US airlines to operate fewer flights, as there was an "imbalance" in the number of US-Venezuela flights which favoured US carriers. These carriers operate about 80 per cent of flights between US cities and Caracas, according to some estimates.
The Venezuelan action comes hard on the heels of an advisory issued by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) early this week stating that it was unable to verify if Venezuela's airport security procedures were adequate as its inspectors had been denied access to the county's airports.
This was described as "a line of slander" by Martinez, who, without denying that TSA inspectors had been denied access, stated that these officials had no jurisdiction in Venezuela as the country's airport security met international standards.
American and Delta both confirmed receipt of the Venzuelan notice and said they hoped a solution could be found by the two governments.
