Kazakhstani aircraft are again welcome in European Union airspace. This follows an announcement made by the European Commission on Thursday 8 December, which withdraws all Kazakhstani aircraft from the aviation blacklist. On the other hand, an Iranian airline has been added to the list.
The Commission stated that Kazakhstan airlines had been withdrawn from the list due to the recent progress made by the country in aviation safety matters. The Commission’s release explains, however, that “Iran Aseman Airlines was added” to the list because of its failure to resolve a number of shortcomings. The latter’s ban comes in addition to two other airlines that have been banned because of security concerns, such as the Iraqi Airways Company and the Blue Wings Airlines from Suriname.
Six other airlines are subject to flight restrictions and cannot fly to the EU unless they use certain aircraft: Afrijet and Nouvelle Air Affaires SN2AG (Gabon), Air Koryo (North Korea), Air Service Comores (Comores), Iran Air (Iran) – which was about to be completely removed from the list (see EUROPE 11574) - and TAAG Angola Airlines (Angola).
Currently, there are around 193 Airlines that are subject to flight bans in the EU, including 190 for reasons pertaining to the lack of supervision of aviation safety by their respective national authorities. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)