The European Commission has updated its list of airlines that are banned from entering European airspace. The bans are imposed on those carriers that the commission does not feel have satisfactory safety standards.
"We cannot afford any compromises in air safety, we have to remain vigilant; citizens have the right to fly safely everywhere in the world," said Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani.
He concluded: "We will not accept that airlines fly at different standards when they operate inside and outside Europe – it is high time that the international community rethinks its safety policy; those airlines which are unsafe should not be allowed to fly anywhere. This list has greatly contributed to making Europe's skies safer. We should gradually move towards an international strategy based on cooperation between countries around the world.
“The list acts a strong incentive to remedy safety deficiencies; withdrawal from the list is indeed possible when the parties concerned put in place sound corrective action to comply with all relevant safety standards.”
TAAG Angola Airlines is currently undergoing improvements to its safety procedures to remove its name from the list. Says the commission: “Progress made by the civil aviation authority of Angola and the air carrier TAAG Angola Airlines to resolve any safety deficiencies are recognised. In that context, the co-operation and assistance agreement signed between the civil aviation authorities of Angola and of Portugal allowed the airline to operate again into Portugal only with certain aircraft and under very strict conditions.”
Zambian carriers have also been identified as problematic. But, says local airline Proflight Zambia in response to the EU notice: “The main reason for this, is that in Zambia, the licensing process (and so the system of overseeing) is done by the Ministry of Transport whereas the world norm is for licensing to be done by the Civil Aviation Authority (or DCA). However, unfortunately, the way the blacklisting has been reported, including on the UK Foreign Office Advisory (FOA) for Travel, it implies that Zambian aviation as an industry is unsafe.”
It added that it was working with the UK government to address the problem of the FOA’s wording.
