EU adopts latest airline blacklist; ban on all Indonesian operations

forbes.com

The European Commission said it has adopted measures finalising an operating ban on all the 51 Indonesian airlines as well as Angolan flight carrier TAAG Angola Airlines and Ukrainian cargo airline Volare Aviation Enterprise, in the latest update to its EU blacklist of unsafe airlines.

On Indonesia, and EU official said experts decided on the ban, which includes national flag carrier Garuda, after a series of recent crashes in the Asian archipelago and Indonesian authorities' failure to give adequate safety assurances.

Although no Indonesian airlines currently fly regularly to and from the EU, the ban could have a big impact on passengers travelling in Indonesia as the European summer holiday period gets underway.

The commission also said that it will relax restrictions imposed on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by allowing specific Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) 747 and Airbus 310 aircraft to operate in the bloc.

This increases the number of aircraft in Pakistan International Airlines' fleet allowed to fly to Europe from seven to 19 of the carrier's 43 airplanes.

The EU executive also said that 10 Russian, 6 Bulgarian and 8 Moldovan airlines will cease operations in the EU on the basis of provisions adopted by those states in consultation with the commission.

There is also a revision of the list of Kyrgyz companies.

Aside from the blacklist, the commission said that Russia, Bulgaria and Moldova have unilaterally adopted measures prohibiting other local airlines from EU operations, following consultations with the EU executive.

Under European rules, passengers must be informed if an airline is on the list of banned carriers and can demand reimbursement or an alternative carrier for tickets bought in Europe for flights that do not enter EU skies.

The commission started a safety ban list in March last year after a string of deadly accidents that highlighted the fragmented approach to air safety in the then-25-nation bloc.

Printable Version | published Jul 05, 2007

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