EU completes aviation blacklist

EU completes aviation blacklist    In an attempt to weed out airlines that operate poorly maintained, antiquated or obsolete aircraft, the European Commission has drawn up a blacklist of “unsafe” airlines, banning them from flying passengers or cargo in the European Union or to operate within European airspace.
   There are 92 airlines on the list, most of them from Africa, that are banned from landing at European airports. All carriers from Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Liberia are included in the ban because those countries were determined to have poor regulatory systems for overseeing safety. Congo alone has 50 carriers that are subject to the ban.
   EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said some planes in service were “flying coffins,” according to the Associated Press.
   The initial list of airlines banned or subject to operational restrictions was created with the help of the Aviation Safety Committee following a series of fatal crashes in Europe the past two years.
   The full list is available at:
https://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/air/safety/doc/flywell/2006_03_22_flywell_list_en.pdf