The European Commission (EC) has announced it has removed Mustique Airways (MAW, St. Vincent Argyle International) and Ukraine's Air Urga (3N, Kirovohrad) from its latest edition of its so-called Air Safety List.
"Today we are showing that with our help, airlines can be quickly removed from the list when they tackle their safety issues," Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said: "Work pays off and I hope that the example of Mustique Airways and Air Urga will inspire others."
However, as previously reported, Venezuelan carrier Avior Airlines (9V, Barcelona José Antonio Anzoategui) has now been added to the list given its recent failure to secure a Third Country Operator certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The list currently bans 172 airlines, certified in sixteen countries, from serving European Union member states due to a lack of safety oversight by the aviation authorities from these states.
A further five individual airlines, Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Iraqi Airways (Iraq), Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname), Med-View Airline (Nigeria), and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), are banned based on safety concerns with regard to these airlines themselves.
Six more airlines are subject to operational restrictions and can only fly to the EU with specific aircraft types: Afrijet Business Service and NRT Nationale Regionale Transport (Gabon), Air Koryo (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Air Service Comores (the Comoros), Iraqi Airways (Iran), and TAAG Angola Airlines (Angola).
