EU releases fresh list of airlines banned from its airspace from Africa

Posted by admin Aviation, Headlines Monday, December 10th, 2012

THE European Union has released an updated list of airlines that remained barred from the continent’s airspace over safety related matters.

EU’s Transport Commissioner, Siim Kallas announced that Eritrean air carriers are no longer certified to fly in the EU, with previously banned airlines from Mauritania now removed from the list.

According to Kallas, “safety must always come first and we cannot accept any compromise in this area, hence the decision on Eritrea.”

The airlines that had received their certification in Eritrea were subject to an operating ban because of “an outstanding safety concern notified by International Civil Aviation Organisation, global aviation regulatory body and to the absence of adequate mitigating measures taken by the competent authorities of Eritrea,” a commission statement said.

No Nigerian airline is on the list, an indication that the country’s aviation regulatory body, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had followed laid down ICAO procedure in airline operations.

Some notable African airlines on the ban list are Aero Benin, African Airways, Alafia Jet, Benin Golf Air, Benin Littoral Airways, (Benin Republic), Air Gemini, Air Gicango, Air Jet, Alada, Air 26, Angola Air Services, (Angola), Air Kasai, Air Katanga, Air Tropiques, Blue Airlines, (DRC), all airlines from Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ayala Aviation Corp, Aviation Technology Innovators, Beacon, Air Wolf Aviation (Phillipines).

Others are carriers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Indonesia, Sao Tome and Principe, Suriname, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Swaziland, among others.

Meanwhile, African Airlines Association (AFRAA), the body representing the continent’s airlines lamented that aviation on the continent remains fragmented, often caused by national egos, which it said prepared to give foreign airlines greater access to their skies than airlines from neighbouring countries or from across the continent.

This, the group stated, has led to a sharply-increased market share by the Gulf giants like Emirates, Qatar Airways, and increasingly Etihad, with Turkish Airlines playing successful catch up and targeting 40 African destinations by the end of 2013.

European legacy carriers like Lufthansa – combined with Brussels Airlines and Swiss, Air France, and British Airways have also cemented their positions of routing traffic into and out of Africa.

While intercontinental connectivity from and to Africa can only be described as between good and excellent, the bulk of the travelers use foreign airlines, leaving the main African airlines to struggle for market share.

Secretary General of AFRAA, Dr. Elijah Chingosho said in addition to this battle for the skies between airlines, is the unfolding the battle between the global alliances.

tar Alliance has three key African airlines in their stable – Egypt Air, Ethiopian, and South African – effectively covering the continent directly and indirectly, as Ethiopian, through their stake in ASKY, also offers a foothold in West Africa.’

Ethiopian remains the biggest asset for Star in Africa, presently being the largest airline on the continent, the first to fly the B787 Dreamliner and the one with the largest network from their Addis Ababa hub,” he added.

Via Guardianwp_posts