Euro Commission Adopts Airline Safety Rules Including 'Blacklist'

November 28, 2005

The European Commission/Parliament/Council collectively agreed on proposed airline safety and air-carrier identity regulations, including the adoption of a blacklist for airlines that fail to comply with safety rules.

Legislation is expected to be adopted by year-end.

Two key components of the legislation are:

• A blacklist of airlines banned for safety reasons.
• Passenger information about the identity of the air carrier deemed unsafe which is operating a flight on the passenger's itinerary.

"European citizens will all be able to consult the blacklist of airlines that do not meet European safety criteria," said Jacques Barrot, the commission's vice president for transport. "After the accidents over the summer, the European Union (EU) is responding by taking action, by addressing citizens' concerns about protection, and finding solutions for them quickly."

When the regulations are in force, as expected, regulators will have the means to impose flight bans and restrictions on all airlines considered dangerous. These measures, according to the commission, will be imposed without discrimination on all carriers, European or non-European. Common safety criteria that are applicable in all states of the EU are the base for the rules.

The regulations are meant to act as a deterrent to airlines with lax safety standards, in addition to providing a coordinated approach to ease confusion of separate national blacklists.

The blacklist, said the commission, will also provide useful information for anyone wishing to travel outside the EU, where flight bans cannot be applied. If an airline appears on the blacklist, passengers will be entitled to a refund or to be re-routed to their final destination.

The common safety criteria, listed in the annex to the regulation, were drawn up based on:

• The work of an aviation safety experts committee and address the findings of Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft Programme (SAFA) inspections carried out at European airports.
• The use of poorly maintained, antiquated or obsolete aircraft.
• The inability of airlines to remedy any identified shortcomings.
• The inability of the authority responsible for overseeing an operator to perform this task.

The new regulations will be one of a range of coordinated measures aimed at improving aviation safety, announced in September.

These initiatives include a proposal adopted by the commission to broaden the tasks performed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the tightening of inspection arrangements for aircraft from non-EU countries within the framework of Directive 2004/36/EC on the safety of third-country aircraft using EU airports (the so-called SAFA Directive).

The inspection program for these aircraft will soon be managed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Source: European Commission.