Venezuela bans Delta, Continental, restricts American

[CathayPacific]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/02/24/venezuela.airlines.ap/index.html

From Mar 1, Venezuela would ban Delta and Continental from flying there. AA would be restricted. The report didn't say what the restriction on AA is. The other US airline serving Venezuela, United, seems to be unaffected.

This is to retaliate on FAA's ban on Venezuelan airlines on new services starting 10 years ago.

[expoITHscohen]

That is a shocker. Wonder why some airlines aren't affected and some are?

[DAL767-400ER]

Smart move by Venezuela. This will scare away just a few thousands of tourists wanting to spend their money in Venezuela, and another fes thousands of business men wanting to do business in Venezuela . Looks like INAC is trying to make a statement about the 'unfair treatment by the FAA', but in the end it could very well bite them in the a$$. Aeropostal to ATL? Not gonna happen now.

Edit: #7,000

[MaxPower]

So whats is this "unfair treatment by the FAA" is about ??

What happened ? Restrictions caused by what ?

This will definitely backfire someday, just a matter of time.

[DAL767-400ER]

What happened ? Restrictions caused by what ?

A few years ago, the FAA downgraded Venezuela to CATII, meaning Venezuelian carriers could not add flights to the US, among other limitations. V. has no supposedly improved their standards to meet CATI again, but for now the FAA won't budge what V. is saying, and keeping them in CATII, which has now caused this reaction by V. Just as a side: Other countries have been downgraded before, like Argentina, and while they complained about it, they never b!tched and whined about it like Venezuela is doing.

[MaxPower]

A few years ago, the FAA downgraded Venezuela to CATII, meaning Venezuelian carriers could not add flights to the US, among other limitations. V. has no supposedly improved their standards to meet CATI again, but for now the FAA won't budge what V. is saying, and keeping them in CATII, which has now caused this reaction by V. Just as a side: Other countries have been downgraded before, like Argentina, and while they complained about it, they never b!tched and whined about it like Venezuela is doing.

I see,
So what are FAA's standards since they degraded Ven.zuela to CAT2 ?
Its obvious that I have no idea how the standards works or are...

Is it the same way that had happened with the European Black lists ???

[CathayPacific]

Smart move by Venezuela. This will scare away just a few thousands of tourists wanting to spend their money in Venezuela, and another fes thousands of business men wanting to do business in Venezuela . Looks like INAC is trying to make a statement about the 'unfair treatment by the FAA', but in the end it could very well bite them in the a$$. Aeropostal to ATL? Not gonna happen now.

Well, Venezuela was never a tourist destination anyway. And the business men who want to do business in the country are probably mostly oil men. And they have shown a great flexibility and tolerance by doing business in countries like Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Angola. So, Venezuela, even with increasing restrictions and uneasiness, is really a paradise for them already. Aeropostal is not doing well anyway, more US service or not. So from the point of view of the Caracas government, they have nothing to lose.

Even if the incident escalates and there are no more flights between US and Venezuela at all, the Venezuelans won't be affected much. Afterall, the economy is built on petroleum. And US is not going to say that they are not importing petroleum from Venezuela. If it does, China and India would be more than happy to buy every milli-litres of petroleum that US has left off, leaving no harm to Venezuela and sky-rocketing gas price to US itself.

[ptbodale]

It is retailiation to U.S. strong arm tactics. While carriers from Venezuela could not add services the U.S. carriers where adding whenever and whatever they wanted.

[DeltaFlyer]

It is retailiation to U.S. strong arm tactics. While carriers from Venezuela couls not add services the U.S. carriers where adding whenever and whatever they wanted.

international service takes two to tango...if venezuela didnt want new service in and out of the country they dont have to approve it, but they have been approving the service and now about 10yrs later they are trying to retaliate - no skin off my butt - I have even quit buying Citgo gas...

[ptbodale]

Many Latin American and South American countries had already signed agreements with the U.S. It was after the agreements were signed that the restrictions were placed on Venezeula and other countries. I don't the specifics of Venezuela, however I know the F.A.A can be quite difficult to deal with.

[AA 1818]

Well while things are not doing so well for the US and Venezuela, things between Trinidad and Venezuela are going very well. Right now, passengers wishing to go to Venezuela are taking advantage of the fact that Carnival is going on in Trinidad (i.e. more flight to Trinidad for Carnival tourists... and lower or at least relitavley low ticket prices to Trinidad). Then they connect easily to Caracas on BWIA or even Aeropostal. Great news for T&T. For AA, BWIA and even CO, then things are not so bad after all.

Anyway, it's sad to think that this is the first and only issue that drew the American public to look into all of the problems going on in Venezuela. Truth be told, the real problem is the current president and his goverment, and this is only one of the many (and to be honest one of the most minor) things that he has done.