Europe’s airline blacklist

More information and the updated blacklist could viewed at this link: 

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/list_en.htm

Introduction

The European Parliament has cleared the way for the adoption of a new crucial regulation on air carrier identity. This regulation aims at introducing a European blacklist of airlines banned from flying in EU airspace for safety reasons. It will enable the EU to impose flight bans and restrictions on all airlines that are considered to be dangerous, including non-European airlines. This legislation will, therefore, do away with the confusion over sometimes conflicting national blacklists of unsafe airlines.

 The Community list of airlines subject to the operating ban[1] will be drawn up by the Commission after Member States would have informed it about the airlines banned from their own territories. They will have a month to do so after the new regulation is published. The list will be drawn up on the basis of common safety criteria which have been defined by national aviation safety experts based in Brussels. These criteria are set out in the Annex to the regulation and include serious safety deficiencies, inability or unwillingness of airlines to address safety deficiencies and inability or unwillingness of authorities to implement and enforce safety standards on aircraft. When adopting the said list, the Commission is duty bound to grant the air carriers concerned the right to be heard.

 The regulation does not stop at creating an airline blacklist but it also introduces new rights for passengers. Passengers will always have the right to be informed about the identity of the carrier which will operate their flight, regardless of the means used to make the reservation. According to Christine de Veyrac, the Rapporteur on the dossier in Parliament the blacklist will be published on the Internet and in all areas where the passengers can purchase flight tickets.

 Passengers are further granted the right to reimbursement or re-routing where:

 ·         the notified operating air carrier has been entered on the Community list and is subject to an operating ban which

       has led to  the cancellation of the flight concerned, or which would have led to such cancellation if the flight concerned

       had been operated  in the Community, or

   ·         the notified operating air carrier has been replaced by another operating air carrier which appears on the Community list

         and is subject to an operating ban which has led to the cancellation of the flight concerned, or which would have led to such

         cancellation if the flight concerned had been operated in the Community

All these rights are applicable with regard to both scheduled and unscheduled flights, regardless of whether such flights are purchased as part of a package or not.

However, the following requisites must be satisfied:

                 1. the flight is part of a contract of carriage and that carriage started in the Community,

 and

  2.     the departure of the flight is from an airport in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies, or

            3.       the departure of the flight is from an airport located in a third country to an airport situated in the territory of a State

                   to which the Treaty applies, or the flight departs from an airport located in a third country and arrives at any such

                   airport

Source: Malta - Eu Legal Brief - November 2005 ( No. 10 ) published by Ganado & Sammut Advocates and Europa Research & Consultancy Services