EU: The European Commission has banned 92 unsafe airlines from entering EU airspace.
African airlines dominate the commission's first airline blacklist, published yesterday. But carriers from Thailand, North Korea and Kazakhstan have also been banned from Europe's skies under an initiative begun last summer following two crashes.
Under the new system, an airline banned in one member state will be banned throughout the EU plus Norway and Switzerland. This replaces a situation whereby each EU state decided which airline is banned from its own airspace.
Transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said the blacklist would ensure that all airlines operating in European skies would meet the highest safety standards. "This blacklist will keep dubious airlines out of Europe," said Mr Barrot, who acknowledged that some of the airlines on the list have never flown to Europe.
But he said the list would protect European passengers from situations where they book to travel with one airline and then at the last minute find out they are being switched to fly with another, unsafe airline. All airlines in the EU now have to be safe, he said.
Problems found included old or poorly maintained aircraft; a failure to solve problems identified in inspections; and bad oversight by regulatory authorities. The ban applies to both cargo and passenger carriers.
The blacklist comprises 92 airlines, the vast majority of which are based in Africa. Some 50 are registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo while 13 are from Sierra Leone, 11 from Equatorial Guinea, six from Swaziland and three from Liberia. Asian firms Ariana Airlines of Afghanistan, Phuket Airlines of Thailand and Reem Airlines of Kazakhstan are also on the list, as well as North Korean airline Air Koryo.
The commission has also released a second list of airlines that face operational restrictions, such as banning a specific aircraft in a fleet. There are currently three airlines on this second list: Air Bangladesh, Buraq Air of Libya and HBA of Congo.
All the airlines listed were given an opportunity to defend themselves and can apply to be removed from it once safety standards are met.