92 Airlines Banned From European Operations
On Tuesday, ANN reported on the International Civil
Aviation Organization's plans to publish a sort of
blacklist -- the names of countries where the
organization says aviation safety is at its worst. Now... the
European Union has published a list of 92 airlines banned from
operating in EU countries.
"This blacklist will keep dubious airlines out of Europe," EU
Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told a Brussels press
conference Wednesday. "It will also make sure that all airlines
operating in Europe's sky meet the highest safety standards."
Among the passenger and cargo carriers no longer allowed to
operate in Europe: Phuket Airlines, based in Thailand; Airiana
Afghan; and all certificated airlines in Equatorial Guinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, and North Korea.
Carriers such as Air Bangladesh, Libya's Buraq Air and the
Democratic Republic of Congo's Hewa Bora Airways are prohibited
from operating certain types of aircraft, or specific planes, on
routes to Europe -- but aren't completely banned from operating to
EU member states.
About 300 aircraft in all are affected by the list, which
Bloomberg reports will be published in full in the EU Official
Journal on Friday, and put into effect the following day.
Talk of an airline blacklist has been circulating throughout the
EU leadership since January 2004, when a Flash Air Boeing 737
(below) went down in the Red Sea, claiming the lives of 148
primarily French passengers. A spate of accidents last August -- including the downing of a West Caribbean
Airways MD-82 in Venezuela, and a Helios Airways 737
accident that claimed 281 lives between them -- prompted the
European Commission to speed up its plans.
EU aviation officials say the ban will keep what they call
"dubious" airlines out of European skies... and make sure both
passenger and cargo operations are the safest possible.
Member nations France and Belgium have
already published their own blacklists, with 15 banned
airlines listed between the two. After protests from affected
airlines and other EU states -- and the fact no one airline
was on both lists -- which led the European Parliament to call for
member states to cede authority to the EU on the matter.
Individual member states may grant operating rights to an
airline on the blacklist, Barrot said, but only in "highly
exceptional" cases. And of course, airlines can also work to prove
themselves, and ultimately be removed from the list.
"Just because you are on the blacklist, you don't have to stay
there forever," Barrot said. "But to get off, you have to show you
meet safety standards."
Not all carriers listed operate to Europe, Barrot added -- but
that those carriers are listed to help Europeans know what carriers
are considered unsafe when they travel overseas.