U.S. Air Agency May Visit Venezuela to Settle Dispute (Update2)

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration may visit Venezuela next month to inspect airports and airlines, in a bid to end a dispute that threatens to reduce flights between the countries.

U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield said in a televised press conference that the FAA may visit the week of April 17, pending approval by the Venezuelan air regulator, known as INAC. The date of the suggested meeting was proposed after informal talks, Brownfield said.

``Our expectation is that if INAC accepts the date, they will then suspend their threat to end flights by U.S. carriers,'' Brownfield said. Brownfield warned that any Venezuelan move to end or reduce flights by U.S. carriers would be met in kind. ``And if that happens, neither Venezuela nor the U.S. wins,'' he said.

Venezuela last month threatened to end flights by Delta Air Lines Inc. and Continental Airlines Inc, while reducing those by AMR Corp.'s American Airlines by 70 percent, unless the FAA changes the country's Category 2 rating by March 30. The rating means that the country's airlines can't add flights to the U.S.

INAC President Francisco Paz Fleitas said yesterday that the country wouldn't retreat from the March 30 deadline, Globovision reported. A previous deadline of March 1 had been postponed.

Calls to INAC spokeswoman Gladys Herrera weren't answered. The FAA lowered Venezuela's rating to Category 2 in 1995 over concerns about the safety of its airports and airlines.

U.S. Threats

``If INAC cuts flights, it's not a possibility, it's not a probability, it's a certainty the U.S. government and the Transportation Department will suspend flights by Venezuelan carriers to the U.S.,'' Brownfield said.

Relations between the two countries have cooled since President Hugo Chavez took office in February 1999. Chavez, an ally of Fidel Castro, poses a threat to regional stability, according to officials such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who told Congress on Feb. 16 the U.S. is urging U.S. allies to form a ``united front'' against Venezuela. Chavez, 51, often says in speeches the U.S. is plotting to assassinate him.

The three U.S. airlines have a daily capacity of about 3,000 seats on their U.S.-Venezuela routes, company officials said.

Fort Worth, Texas-based American has four daily flights between Miami and Caracas, one flight a day between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Caracas; five weekly flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Caracas; two weekly flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Caracas and one daily flight between Miami and Maracaibo.

Delta flies daily between Caracas and Atlanta. Continental flies daily between Caracas and Houston, and once a week between Caracas and Newark.

In addition to U.S. carriers, Venezuelan airlines Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela and Santa Barbara Airlines serve U.S. routes from Venezuela. Lan Airlines also flies between Miami and Caracas.