Fri Feb 24, 2006 6:19 PM ET
By Patrick Markey
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela will halt flights by U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines and restrict American Airlines in the latest dispute between Washington and the world's No. 5 oil exporter, airlines and industry officials said on Friday.
Washington, increasingly at odds with Venezuela's left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, said it could weigh countermeasures should Caracas press ahead with flight suspensions in March.
The restrictions on U.S. passenger and cargo flights came after U.S. authorities refused to lift limits put on place in 1995 on Venezuelan carriers flying to the United States due to safety concerns, Venezuela's INAC aviation authority said.
Venezuela's airline association ALAV, which represents carriers, said the measure would cancel some American flights and halt all Continental and Delta flights and affect cargo carrier FedEx when it takes effect next Wednesday.
"INAC has exhausted all conciliatory avenues with the U.S. aviation authorities ... and has not been able to re-establish rights the bilateral accord gives to Venezuelan air carriers," the Venezuelan agency said in a statement.
U.S. State Department spokesman Eric Watnik said Caracas had not consulted Washington before notifying U.S. carriers that flights would be canceled or reduced. He said the move violated a 1953 U.S.-Venezuela aviation accord.
"We are working to resolve this serious dispute," Watnik said. "If Venezuela proceeds with its announced plans, we will consider options for an appropriate response."
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said as early as last fall it had offered technical support to Venezuela to improve aviation safety.
Relations between Venezuela and the United States hit a low earlier this month when Chavez expelled a U.S. military attache accused of spying and Washington responded by kicking out a Venezuelan diplomat.
EXECUTIVE TALKS
Roberto Pulido, an ALAV association representative, said U.S. airline officials met with Venezuelan authorities on Friday to discuss the measure and its impact.
Delta spokesman John Kennedy said, "We are very disappointed by this unilateral action by the Venezuelan government and are working closely with the U.S. departments of State and Transport as well as our peer carriers."
Continental said the measure would halt all its operations from March but that it would maintain its daily Caracas-to-Houston flight and a weekly Caracas- to-Newark, New Jersey, flight while negotiations were under way.
A FedEx spokeswoman said the company was in talks with the government to see whether its operations would be affected but that its business would continue in the meantime.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority in 1995 said Venezuelan authorities had failed to comply fully with International Civil Aviation Organization standards and rated them a category 2, which restricted Venezuelan carrier flights to United States.
Venezuela briefly canceled direct flights by U.S. carriers in 1996 after Washington threatened to downgrade Venezuelan aviation authorities further with a full ban on local flights to the United States.
(Additional reporting by Magdalena Morales in Caracas and Jeremy Pelofsky and Sue Pleming in Washington)
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