EU bans almost 100 airlines from its skies

Nicholas Watt in Brussels
Thursday March 23, 2006
The Guardian

An airline used by thousands of British holidaymakers to fly to Thailand heads a list of 92 "dubious" carriers which are to be banned from flying to or over all 25 EU countries after failing safety tests. Phuket Airlines, which was barred from British airspace last year after an in-flight fuel leak, has been added to the banned list which will come into force tomorrow.

The 92 passenger and cargo airlines, mostly based in Africa, include all but one of the 51 carriers operating from the Democratic Republic of Congo and all airlines from Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Swaziland.

Jacques Barrot, the European transport commissioner who dismissed some aircraft as "flying coffins", said: "This list will keep dubious airlines out of Europe. It will make sure that all airlines in Europe's sky meet the highest safety standards."

EU countries decided to pool their national blacklists last year after a plane of Cyprus's Helios Airways crashed near Athens in August, killing all 121 people on board. Helios though, in common with all EU carriers, is not on the banned list because the European commission is satisfied that its safety record has improved.

Most of the banned airlines, including Air Koryo from North Korea and Reem Air from Kyrgyzstan, will be unknown to the average tourist. But Phuket Airlines used to operate a weekly service from London Gatwick to Bangkok via the United Arab Emirates. It was banned from Britain last year after a series of delays, including one of 36 hours, caused by technical troubles.

Panic broke out on a Boeing 747 flight from Bangkok to London last April when passengers saw fuel leaking from the wing as it was planning to take off from Sharjah airport. The airline admitted that the fuel tank had been overfilled, but claimed there had been no danger. Passengers refused to fly and another plane was ordered from Bangkok, which was then delayed at Sharjah for 11 hours.

Other banned airlines which will be familiar to British tourists include Ariana Afghan Airlines, used by British backpackers travelling to India via Kabul before the Taliban took power.

The 92 airlines are on "List A" which imposes a total ban. A second, "List B", imposes lesser restrictions on three airlines - Air Bangladesh, Buraq Air from Libya and Hewa Bora from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Aircraft from these airlines which have failed EU safety tests will be banned. Hewa Bora will only be allowed to fly one aircraft in the EU, highlighting the almost complete ban on planes from Congo.

Mr Barrot blamed years of civil war in Congo for its poor record. "A number of planes used for military operations were just converted into charter planes, hence the high number of airlines. In Africa they tend to use planes manufactured in the former Soviet Union. They were basically patched up and they are under suspicion."

List of airlines banned from EU Space : http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/pdf/dft_aviation_pdf_026674.pdf