U.S. and Venezuela avoid ban on flights

CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. aviation authorities upgraded Venezuela's safety ranking today, averting a ban that would have blocked most U.S. airlines from flying to the country.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas said in a statement that the "Federal Aviation Administration is raising the safety rating of Venezuela to Category 1."

The decision came after an FAA team visited Venezuela late last month to examine Venezuelan airlines' planes and procedures within the country's aviation authority.

.

The Venezuelan government had protested its lower Category 2 ranking, which prohibited Venezuelan airlines from flying their own planes to the U.S. or from launching new services such as expansions in routes.

The restrictions, in place since 1995, forced Venezuelan airlines to rent planes and crew for flights to or from the United States.

Venezuela had set an April 25 deadline by which the FAA had to drop the restrictions or face retaliatory measures.

Venezuela had threatened to block all flights by Continental and Delta and restrict most flights by American Airlines.

U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield had countered that his government in turn would "with absolute certainty" prohibit Venezuelan flights to the United States.

The U.S. Embassy called the decision "excellent news for the thousands of passengers who fly between the United States and Venezuela."

Venezuela had claimed that the FAA restrictions locked its carriers out of the U.S. market and were no longer justified after improvements to airline safety and regulation. Local carriers lost 90 percent of the U.S.-Venezuela market to their American competitors after the restrictions were imposed.

The FAA said the standards that must be met are imposed by the International Civil Aviation Authority, not the FAA. Two audits of Venezuela's civil aviation authority by ICAO, the United Nation's technical agency for aviation, showed "increasing improvements," the FAA said.