Venezuela's Avior Airlines Added to EU Safety List
The addition means it is subject to an operating ban or operating restrictions within the European Union. Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and Urga (Ukraine) were removed after they made safety improvements.
The European Commission on Nov. 30 updated the EU Air Safety List, which is its list of non-European airlines that do not meet international safety standards and are subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union. There were three changes: Venezuela's Avior Airlines was added while Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and Urga (Ukraine) were removed after they made safety improvements. They had been included on the list in May 2017.
"Our objective is to offer the highest level of safety in European skies. The EU's Air Safety List remains one of our most effective tools to achieve this. Today we are showing that with our help, airlines can be quickly removed from the list when they tackle their safety issues. Work pays off, and I hope that the example of Mustique Airways and Urga will inspire others," said Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc.
The commission announcement said Avior Airlines was added to the list due to unaddressed safety deficiencies that were detected by the European Aviation Safety Agency during the assessment for a third country operator authorisation. The latest changes mean 178 airlines are banned from EU skies:
- 172 airlines certified in 16 states are listed because of a lack of safety oversight by the aviation authorities from those states.
- Six individual airlines are listed based on safety concerns with regard to the airlines themselves: Avior; Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran); Iraqi Airways (Iraq); Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname); Med-View Airlines (Nigeria); and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe).
Six other airlines are subject to operational restrictions and can only fly to the EU with specific aircraft types: Afrijet and Nouvelle Air Affaires SN2AG (Gabon); Air Koryo (Democratic People's Republic of Korea); Air Service Comores (the Comoros); Iran Air (Iran); and TAAG Angola Airlines (Angola).