AIR SERVICES BETWEEN the USA and Venezuela stopped on 7 August, with both countries grounding each other's aircraft. US Federal Aviation Administration officials in Miami had grounded two Venezuelan airliners for safety reasons. Venezuelan inspectors in Caracas then grounded two American Airlines aircraft. Services have been resumed following talks in Washington DC between the US and Venezuelan transport ministers.
After an audit in November 1995, the FAA judged Venezuela's aviation safety oversight to be poor, so it heightened its surveillance of Venezuelan aircraft. Since then, the FAA has declared its dissatisfaction with Venezuelan efforts to improve surveillance and threatened to end the air-service agreement. The US deadline has been extended until 9 September.
Source: Flight International
