More Asian carriers hit by EU ban
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Bloombergreported that Kazakhstan’s AirCompany Kokshetau, ATMA Airlines, Berkut Air, East Wing, Sayat Air and StarlineKZ have been hit by the ban, as well as One-Two-Go,Ukraine’s Motor SichAirlines, and all carriers registered to the West African state of Benin.
This is thetenth update of a blacklist first drawn up by the European Commission in March2006 with more than 90 airlines, mainly from Africa.The ban already covers carriers from nations including Angola, Gabon,the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia,Rwanda, Indonesia and North Korea.
“Airpassengers are entitled to feel safe and be safe,” EU Transport Commissioner,Antonio Tajani, was reported saying in a statement yesterday in Brussels. All carriersmust “conform to internationally required levels of air safety”, he added.
Thailand’s One-Two-Go has had a troubled recent history,following the crash of one of its planes at Phuket airport in 2007. It wasbanned from flying by Thai authorities for a large portion of last year, andhas only recently resumed domestic services.
With thelatest changes, Beninbecomes the ninth country where all the local airlines face the EU ban. Itjoins Indonesian, which has seen the blanket ban on its carriers extendeddespite the efforts of the country’s aviation authorities to reverse theruling.
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