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EU black lists more African airlines
  • The black listing of Air Madagascar’s two B767-300ER flights to Europe will effectively cut off Madagascar from their key trading and potential tourism markets in Europe, is aiding critics of the current regime, which has been shunned even by the African Union, and has been under varying degrees of trade embargoes from many other countries.

    The banning is a result of a range of safety concerns to do with maintenance and subsequent doubts over the airlines continued airworthiness. A number of airlines have halted flights to Madagascar, also over growing concerns about airport safe operations, since ICAO a few months ago issued a damning report about blatant shortcomings in operational safety.

    The island’s tourism traffic, already dwindled to a trickle due to the bad publicity the regime has generated, will suffer as intending travellers now have to make considerable detours and very likely will have to pay substantially higher fares, should they still wish to visit the otherwise famous national parks and forest, where the rare lemurs have their habitat.

    The European Union has added all airlines from Mozambique to a blacklist, which prohibits operations within Europe.

    All air carriers certified in Mozambique have also been banned from flying into the EU because of "significant safety deficiencies" uncovered by aviation experts working in the region.

    The new list, updated for the first time since November 2010, bans 269 carriers from operations within Europe, hailing from 21 states around the world, which are believed to have significant safety problems.

    There are also three individual banned carriers (Blue Wing Airlines from Surinam, Meridian Airways from Ghana, and Silverback Cargo Freighters from Rwanda), with several other airlines facing restrictions on specific aircraft.

    Although the EU lifted restrictions on four carriers from Indonesia and one from Ukraine, it issued a new warning on Russia, urging members to intensify their dialogue with the Russian Federation "to ensure that all aircraft flying into the EU comply with international standards." The Commission justified the ban on the grounds of "significant deficiencies faced by the civil aviation authorities of this country as reported by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the framework of its Universal Safety Oversight Audit".

    The statement further says, "There is verified evidence of lack of ability of the authority responsible for the safety oversight of air carriers certified in Mozambique to implement and enforce the relevant safety standards".

    The Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) has released a statement saying that it is attempting to obtain further explanation from the European Commission about the ban.

    A series of contacts was now being made "to obtain further explanation from the European Commission, a body with which the IACM has been holding consultations to strengthen its institutional capacity and to identify opportunities for improvement in the Mozambican civil aviation system". The release said that the IACM and the national air companies "are committed to the development of the sector. Currently a programme for the development and modernization of airport infrastructures is under way".

    This programme includes improvements in runways and in navigational aids, and "a strengthening of the human and material capacity of the regulatory body". The black listing has no immediate impact on any Mozambican air company, since the only company that flies from Mozambique to Europe, Mozambique Airlines (LAM), is using a plane hired from a European company, which is not subject to the ban. These flights, twice weekly from Maputo to Lisbon use a Boeing 767-300 leased from the Portuguese company Euro Atlantic that supplies the plane, crew and maintenance. A statement by Mozambican airline, LAM, has pointed out that the criticisms of the European Commission are directed at the IACM and that LAM itself has an excellent safety record.

    "As a responsible company, LAM complies with all the international requirements and procedures defined by the ICAO and by IATA (International Air Transport Association)", the release said. "LAM has been audited twice by outside bodies under the IOSA-IATA Operational and Safety Audit programme". African airlines black listed by the EU include:

    Angola
    Benin
    Republic of Congo
    Democratic Republic of Congo
    Djibouti
    Equatorial Guinea
    Gabon (with the exception of three carriers, which operate under restrictions and conditions)
    Liberia
    Mauritania
    Mozambique
    Sierra Leone
    Sao Tome and Principe
    Sudan
    Swaziland
    Zambia