119 airlines remain banned from EU skies

The European Commission maintains, and regularly updates, an “EU Air Safety List” which is comprised of airlines which do not meet international safety standards. Airlines which find themselves on this list are either banned or severely restricted from entering EU airspace.

On 14 June 2018, the Commission announced that all airlines certified in Indonesia were cleared from the list. According to Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc, “The EU Air Safety List is one of our main instruments to continuously offer the highest level of air safety to Europeans. I am particularly glad that after years of work, we are today able to clear all air carriers from Indonesia. It shows that hard work and close cooperation pay off. I am also satisfied that we now have a new warning system to prevent unsafe aircraft from entering European airspace.”

Following the removal of Indonesia from the EU Air Safety List, there remains 119 airlines. These are identified by the Commision as:

• 114 airlines certified in 15 states, due to a lack of safety oversight by the aviation authorities from these states;
• Five individual airlines, based on safety concerns with regard to these airlines themselves: Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Iraqi Airways (Iraq), Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname), Med-View Airlines (Nigeria) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe).

The EU continues, “An additional six airlines are subject to operational restrictions and can only fly to the EU with specific aircraft types: Afrijet and Nouvelle Air Affaires SN2AG (Gabon), Air Koryo (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), Air Service Comores (the Comoros), Iran Air (Iran) and TAAG Angola Airlines (Angola).”

Company travel policies should include a secondary review when the need to use airlines which are on this list as a part of the duty of care responsibilities in keeping employees and contractors safe when traveling on the company’s behalf.