The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has rejected an application by Transcarga International Airways (T7, Caracas Simón Bolivar) for exemption from a ban on all commercial flights between the United States and Venezuela.
The moratorium was instituted in May after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) informed the DOT of signficant safety and security concerns regarding flights between the two countries.
Given the US market forms a large part of its business, the Venezuelan cargo specialist applied to the DOT for exemption from the ban. In order address the DOT and DHS's concerns, it proposed operating its Venezuela-US flights via a third country such as Panama or the Dominican Republic where cargo heading to the US would be screened by the relevant, US-sanctioned authority.
However, the DOT said in an Order dated August 2 that it had dismissed Transcarga's request stating that the airline's proposed cargo-screening remedy was insufficient given the overall scope of the US government's concerns are on a national security, as opposed to an isolated, level. It therefore upheld its June moratorium adding that it would only be able to entertain the possibility of a resumption in direct US-Venezuela commercial flights once the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had been able to guarantee adequate levels of safety and security in Venezuela.
The DOT said it would not entertain any petitions for reconsideration of its order.
For its part, Transcarga continues to operate with only a single A300B4(F) plying flights from Caracas Simón Bolivar to Valencia Arturo Michelena International and Ciudad Bolívar domestically as well as Bogotá internationally.
