Amsterdam, 12/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - The French proposal to create a label of the safest airlines and to draw up a "blue list" of these companies is an interesting idea but does not figure on the European Commission's agenda at the moment. The European Commission is prioritising a "black list" of less safe airlines and information for passengers on these companies, explained European Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, in Amsterdam.
Following the Charm el-cheik accident last January which left 148 dead, the French minister of transport, Gilles de Robien announced that he intended to establish a list in France of the safest airlines and to promote this measure Europe-wide. This label, which the French minister presented last Friday to his colleagues, will enter into force in France in 2005 and will allow the drawing up of a "blue list" of the safest companies.
"I can understand the concept of a blue list, but at Community level, a black list comes to mind more easily", the Commissioner told the press on Saturday, on the sidelines of the meeting, but declined to go into more detail. She said only that the name of the least safe airlines would feature in the report the European Commission was to submit at the end of the year, in line with a 2004 directive adopted after the Sharm El Sheikh accident. This directive includes a provision for the annual publication of a Commission report on the safety of aircraft belonging to third countries and using Community airports, and based on checks carried out by the Member States (EUROPE of 3 April). If Member States point the finger at certain airlines, "they will be quoted" in the report, was all Ms de Palacio would say.
The Commission also repeated her intentions of presenting a proposal obliging tourist operators to keep passengers abreast of the airlines they fly with, and allowing travellers to cancel their bookings if the airline is changed. This promise was made last January, following the Sharm El Sheikh accident (EUROPE of 14 January).