Air Zimbabwe and Nigeria’s MedView Airlines included on EU’s Blacklist over safety deficiencies

The European Commission has updated its list of airlines banned from operating in the European airspace because they fail to meet international safety standards. The bans are “due to inadequate safety oversight by the aviation authorities of these nations”, the EU Commission said.

Fifteen countries have all their airlines, 90 in total, banned from flying over Europe. These countries include Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

Serious safety deficiencies

The Seven other airlines also affected include; Avior Airlines (Venezuela), Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname), Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Iraqi Airways (Iraq), MedView Airlines (Nigeria), Skol Airline LLC (Russia) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe). At issue: “serious security deficiencies identified”. MedView Airlines, the only carrier listed on the Nigerian bourse, had been grounded since 2019, reportedly due to a lack of equipment.

The Commission said the identification of “serious safety deficiencies” was behind the decision to include them on the blacklist.

The revision comes at a time when the European representatives recently met with South Sudanese civil aviation authority in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, with the commission expressing its views to the authority concerning the several accidents and incidents witnessed in the country over the last three years.

Meanwhile, all airlines certified in Moldova “following improvements in aviation safety in the country” including Air Moldova, HiSky and FlyOne have been removed from this blacklist.

“Ensuring the highest level of aviation safety for Europeans and all other passengers travelling to and within the European Union is at the heart of the Commission’s aviation safety policy“, the commission stated.