EU bans all airlines from Sudan, restricts Iran Air flights

BRUSSELS, March 30 (KUNA) -- The European Commission announced here today a ban on all arilines from Sudan and the Philippines from flying into territories of EU countries due to safety concerns.
"The Commission imposes an operating ban on all operations of Sudanese air carriers, due to a poor safety performance of the civil aviation authority of Sudan resulting from persistent non-compliance with international standards," said the EU's executive body in a statement. The European Commission adopted Tuesday the thirteenth update of the list of airlines banned in the European Union .
The statemenbt said that following an examination of the safety of Iran Air's operations into the EU through ramp checks of its aircraft , evidence of serious incidents and accidents suffered by the carrier , the Air Safety Committee concluded unanimously that the operations of Iran Air to the EU should be restricted. The iran Air carrier will only be allowed to use certain aircraft for flights to Europe. The European Commission said it will visit Iran over the next months to verify the oversight of the Iranian civil aviation organisation and the safety situation of Iran Air. The Commission said it is following closely the performance of Egyptian air carriers. A visit to Egypt to verify the oversight functions of the civil aviation authority and the performance of certain air carriers showed that this authority is carrying out its responsibilities correctly, noted the statement.
On carriers from the Phillipines, the statement said with the unanimous support of the Air Safety Committee the European Commission is forced to follow the principle of precaution and impose an operating ban on all air carriers licensed in the Philippines. With today's update, restrictions placed on Air Koryo from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and TAAG from Angola are partially lifted under certain conditions.
EU Commissioner for transport Siim Kallas, said in press statements that "safety comes first. We are ready to support countries that need to build up technical and administrative capacity to guarantee the necessary standards in civil aviation. But we cannot accept that airlines fly into the EU if they do not fully comply with international safety standards." The EU's list today has three carriers whose operations are fully banned in the European Union - Ariana Afghan Airlines from Afghanistan, Siem reap Airwways International from Cambodia and Silverback Cargo Freighters from Rwanda. All carriers from 17 countries - 278 companies in total - are banned: Angola,la, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, (with the exception of three carriers which operate under restrictions and conditions), Indonesia, Kazakhstan (with the exception of one carrier which operates under restrictions and conditions), the Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland and Zambia. Ten air carriers are allowed to operate under restrictions and conditions - Air Koryo from the Democratic People Republic of Korea, TAAG Angola Airlines, Air Astana from Kazakhstan, Iran Air from Iran Gabon Airlines, Afrijet and SN2AG from Gabon, Air Bangladesh, Air Service Comores and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines from Ukraine. (end) nk.bz.
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