SWISS BAN EGYPT, ARMENIA AIRLINES ON SAFETY CONCERNS (UPDATE1)
Bloomberg
Sept 1 2005
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — Switzerland has banned two airlines from its
airports in a list released today for the first time to increase
transparency after five plane crashes worldwide last month focused
public attention on carriers’ safety.
Egypt’s Flash Airlines and Armenia’s Air Van Airlines are forbidden
from landing in Switzerland, Raymond Cron, head of the Federal Office
for Civil Aviation said at a briefing in the Swiss capital Bern today.
Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger decided to publish the Swiss
blacklist after meeting last week with his French counterpart,
Dominique Perben. French regulators, releasing their list for the
first time, said Aug. 29 that they have refused landing rights to
five airlines over the past four years. Belgium said the same day
that it bars nine carriers.
European Union countries each have separate safety policies on
approving airlines serving their countries. A carrier blacklisted in
one country isn’t necessarily banned elsewhere in the 25-nation bloc.
EU regulators have proposed legislation forcing the bloc’s 25 nations
to publish an annual list of all banned airlines in order to create a
consolidated, region-wide list of these carriers. The U.K. makes its
list public, while Italy and Germany don’t identify which airlines
they keep out of their airports.
“Only a Europe-wide list will lead to the goal,” said Cron, who took
over the safety dossier at the European Civil Aviation Conference one
week ago. “I am convinced we will have this European list. If we’re
fast, it will be ready in 2006,” he said.
Revelations of Swiss Ban
Revelations of a Swiss ban against a Flash Airlines Boeing 737-300 that
wasn’t widely publicized in the EU helped unblock the initial debate
over a public blacklist after the jet crashed in January 2004 in Sharm
el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing all 148 passengers, including 135 French
citizens. Switzerland bans both airlines and individual aircraft.
The Swiss list doesn’t cover airlines that don’t operate in the
country, but any airline that is banned by another country will
automatically be rejected by Switzerland if it issues a request.
Swiss authorities will reassess the permits of airlines operating in
Switzerland that have been banned by another country, Cron said.
In addition, the aviation authorities aim to revise a law stipulating
that travel agencies must inform customers which airline they will
fly with. In order to be taken off the blacklist, a banned airline
must prove its flight safety.
“Just because we’re making things more transparent, doesn’t mean it’s
safer to fly,” Cron said. “But transparency will help consumers be
more aware, and airlines be more aware.”
French, Belgian and U.K. Lists
France’s blacklist includes Air Koryo of North Korea, Thailand’s Phuket
Airlines, Mozambique’s Linhas Aereas de Mocambique, Air Saint Thomas
of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and International Air Services of Liberia.
Belgium has banned Air Van Airlines as well as the Central African
Republic’s Africa Lines, Egypt’s Air Memphis, Central Air Express
of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya’s ICTTPW, Nigeria’s
International Air Tours, Ghana’s Johnsons Air Ltd., Rwanda’s Silverback
Cargo Freighters and Ukraine’s South Airlines.
The U.K. has banned aircrafts registered or operated by companies with
an Air Operators Certificate from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, and Tajikistan,
according to a January 2004 report found on the government’s Web
site. The U.K. has also refused or suspended permits of Mauritania’s
Air Mauritanie, Kyrgyzstan’s Phoenix Aviation and Phuket Airlines.
Four of the five plane crashes in August were fatal. None involved
an airline on the banned lists. All 309 on board an Air France Airbus
A340 survived after the plane slid into a ravine and burst into fire
during a rainstorm Aug. 2 at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Nineteen of the 39 people on a Tunis Air ATR-72 regional aircraft
were killed Aug. 6 in a crash on the coast of Palermo, Sicily. All
121 people aboard died when a Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 went down
north of Athens on Aug. 14.
An Aug. 16 crash in Venezuela of a Medellin, Colombia-based West
Caribbean Airways plane killed all 160 people aboard, including 152
French tourists. Forty people died Aug. 23 in the crash of a Tans
airline Boeing Co. 727-200 in the Peruvian Andes jungle.