EU adds 21 airlines certified in Russia to banned, restricted list
The European Commission updated on April 11 the EU Air Safety List – the list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, because they do not meet international safety standards – adding 21 airlines certified in Russia.
This reflects serious safety concerns due to Russia’s forced re-registration of foreign-owned aircraft, knowingly allowing their operation without valid certificates of airworthiness, the European Commission said.
This is in breach of international aviation safety standards, the statement said.
European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, said: “The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has allowed Russian airlines to operate hundreds of foreign-owned aircraft without a valid Certificate of Airworthiness”.
The Russian airlines concerned had knowingly done so in breach of relevant international safety standards, Vălean said.
This was not only a clear breach of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention), but it also posed an immediate safety threat, she said.
“We are living in the context of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine,” Vălean said.
“However, I want to make it crystal-clear that this decision is not another sanction against Russia; it has been taken solely on the basis of technical and safety grounds. We do not mix safety with politics.”
The full list of airlines banned or restricted in the EU is available at this link.
(Photo: nitelife-d/sxc.hu)
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