African carriers dominate 14-strong airline blacklists

29/08/2005

Ni ne of the 14 blacklisted airlines published by France and Belgium
on Monday are based in Africa, while two are based in eastern Europe.

Belgium and France took the decision to publish their blacklists after
four airline crashes in August–including the Helios Airways flight
from Cyprus to Athens that killed 121 people–led to calls from the
European Commission to produce an EU-wide list of banned airlines.

None of the airlines on the list included those involved in the recent
crashes, but an earlier crash in January 2004 was later revealed to
have involved an airline that was banned by Switzerland.

The Civil Aviation Authority of France (DGAC) published the following
five airlines which are already prohibited from landing in France:

*Air Koryo (North Korea, banned since April 2001)

*Air Saint-Thomas (USA Virgin Islands, banned since March 2003)

*International Air Services (Liberia, banned since January 2004)

*Lineas Aer de Mozambique (Mozambique, banned since December 2004)

*Phuket Airlines (Thailand, banned since June 2005)

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport of Belgium published a list of
nine banned airlines:

*Africa Lines (Central African Republic)

*Air Memphis (Egypt)

*Air Van Airlines (Armenia)

*Central Air Express (Democratic Republic of Congo)

*I.C.T.T.P.W. (Libya)

*International Air Tours Limited (Nigeria)

*Johnsons Air Limited (Ghana)

*Silverback Cargo Freighters (Rwanda)

*South Airlines (Ukraine)

Although the European Commission–the EU’s executive arm–brokered
a deal to create an EU-wide criteria for a blacklist last February,
it is having difficulty finding consensus. This has led to an EU-style
“coalition of the willing” to go ahead and publish their lists.

The EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot has welcomed the move
by France and Belgium.

The UK already has a blacklist, while Switzerland–not an EU member
state–is expected to publish its own blacklist later in the week.

The French government said it would increase the number of checks on
aircraft landing in France.

Companies organising package tours will soon be required to inform
travellers of the airline they will be travelling on.