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.

FMI: www.europa.eu.int