Venezuela suspends planned sanctions on US flights: US diplomat

The Venezuelan government has decided not to impose restrictions on U.S. airline flights to and from Caracas, which were due to take effect next Thursday, the U.S. ambassador to Caracas told media there on Friday.

INAC, Venezuela's national civil aviation agency, said in February that it would restrict flights by Delta Airlines, Continental Airlines and American Airlines as part of a long-term dispute with the United States over airline security.

Ambassador William Brownfield said that the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) would send a technical team to Venezuela at the end of this week, which would stay "until the problems are solved and they have reached a deal with the INAC, settling the problems that have been outstanding for nearly 10 years."

Venezuela's punitive measure was apparently taken in reprisal for a 1995 ruling by the U.S. Federal Aviation administration (FAA) to downgrade Venezuela to a category-two country because of security concerns, which ended U.S.-bound flights by Venezuelan airlines.

According to the ruling, Venezuelan airlines could only offer services to the United States if they used aircraft and crew members on loan from approved airlines.

The Venezuelan government has been complaining to the U.S. air authorities about their refusal to lift the sanctions.

The INAC has argued that Venezuela had restructured and modernized its airlines, and that the process had been certified by the International Civil Aviation Organization in June 2004, and therefore, it deserved to be returned to a category-one status airline for security.