Brussels, 23/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Proceeding to the new quarterly update of the airline blacklist, the European Commission imposed on Tuesday 23 November a flight ban in EU airspace of all Afghan airlines, as well as Mauritania Airways and other Mauritanian airlines.
In the case of the four Afghan operators, the shortcomings identified involve civil aviation safety surveillance in Afghanistan, as well as the safety of the aircraft themselves. The flight ban affects Safi Airways, Pamir Airways and Kam Air, which operate a number of direct flights to Germany, Austria and United Kingdom. The decision also confirms the ban on a fourth Afghan airline, Ariana Afghan Airlines, which was included on the blacklist in 2008. It is possible that the three airlines might continue to provide their services in Europe by resorting (following the example of Ariana, which rents out its logo to Turkey) to measures such as wet leasing (renting aircraft with crews). However, Helen Kearns, the spokeswoman for the European commissioner for transport, stated that “no aircraft certified in Afghanistan would be able to fly in Europe”. With regard to Mauritania Airways, the flight ban has been imposed following “a serious problem encountered at the beginning of the year… as well as recurring problems that we identified during inspections in France and Spain”. Due to a dysfunction in the civil aviation surveillance system in Mauritania, identified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), this measure has, nevertheless, been extended to all Mauritanian airlines. The Commission also added new airlines in Gabon (Afric Aviation) to the list, as well as one air carrier certified in Kyrgyzstan (CAAS). Nine Kazakh operators which lost their licences have been removed from the list.
Positive outcomes included the Commission decision to partly remove restrictions on Ghana's Air Lift International. The Commission also welcomed progress made by Air Algérie. The new black list update bans flight operations by 276 airlines in 19 countries. This includes four individual carriers (Blue Wings Airlines from Surinam, Meridian Airways from Ghana, Siem Reap Airways International from Cambodia and Silverback Cargo Freighters from Rwanda). Ten other airlines can continue to operate, subject to strict restrictions (Air Astana from Kazakhstan, Air Koryo from the Democratic Republic of Korea, Airlift International from Ghana, Air Services Comores, Afrijet, Gabon Airlines and SN2AG from Gabon, Iran Air, TAAG Angolan Airlines and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines).
The new blacklist of airline flight bans can be consulted in the EU Official Journal L306 dated 23 November. (A.By./transl.fl)