14 Nov 2008 : new EU blacklist is now online

[LX-LGX]

edited on 14th Nov : title has been changed from 6th into 14th Nov


The European Commission will publish a new no-fly list on Thursday 06 Nov 2008.

The list will be available some time on Thursday through this link:
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/

A few carriers who have been in BRU in the past are banned this time. Don't know yet however if they are totally banned, or just banned for some specific aircraft:

Added on 14th November by LX-LGX:
"on 5th November, VRT - Flemish television - announced that the following carriers will be banned:"

Onur Air
Hellenic Imperial Airways
Luzair
Bravo Airlines (yep, the Congo-related carrier)

Please wait with in-dept comments on the above bans till the list has been published.

[Sikiri]

Luzair? Is this the first time that a european airline is being banned?
I hope they will have time to solve whatever there problem is, and that they survive this, I always loved the L-1011 Tristar.

[Andries]

Luzair? Is this the first time that a european airline is being banned?

Hellenic imperial is also European (Greek)

Greetz,

Andries

[earthman]

So, um, it's November 10th already, still no new black list?

What's that? Do I feel some political pressure?

No doubt by the time they actually publish it, the European airlines will no longer be on it.

[LX-LGX]

The new blacklist is online

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

choose your language, and then click on the pdf-logo

[LX-LGX]

Indeed : no Onur Air, no Luzair, no Hellenic Imperial Airways in the new blacklist.

On Wednesday 05 Nov 2008 at 22h37, VRT (Flemish television) announced the following on it news website deredactie.be:

De Europese Commissie heeft een zwarte lijst opgesteld van luchtvaartmaatschappijen die niet meer in Europa mogen vliegen. De lijst wordt morgen voorgelegd aan het Europees Parlement. Naast de beruchte Turkse carrier Onur staan op de nieuwe lijst, die volgende week van kracht wordt, ook vier Europese maatschappijen. Het gaat om het Griekse Hellenic Imperial Airways dat al in maart 2006 vliegverbod kreeg, maar sindsdien van Jordanië verhuisde naar Cyprus, Syrië en nu naar Sierra Leone. Hellenic zet één Boeing 747 in. Daarnaast is er een kleine Duitse chartergroep en een Portugese reisorganisator Luzair. Het meest relevant voor België is het verbod op vluchten van Bravo Airlines, een samenwerkingsverband tussen de Congolese luchtvaartlijnen en het Spaanse Bravo, dat vanuit Kinshasa en Dakar met een jumbo op Brussel vliegt. De Europese Commissie vult de zwarte lijst geregeld aan.

The European Commission has made a new blacklist of airlines, banned in Europe. The list will be presented to the European Parliament on Friday 7th November 2008. Apart from Onur Air, a carrier with bad reputation, four European airlines have been added: Hellenic Imperial Airways from Greece, already banned in 2006 but moved to Jordania, Cyprus, Syria and now Sierra Leone. Hellenic has one 747. There is also a small German charter group banned, and also the Portugese touroperator Luzair. Most relevant for Belgium is the banning of the Spanish carrier Bravo Airlines, a setup between Congolese airlines and the Spanish Bravo, and flying from Kinshasa and Dakar onto Brussels with a jumbo. The European Commission regularly updates the blacklist.

The story has disappeared from the VRT-website. Hyperlink on Wednesday 05 Nov was:
deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie/buitenland/081105_zwartelijst

- - -

My guess : the European Parliament disagreed with the initial blacklist that the European Commission had made. Hence also the delay between announcement and publication.

[hakan]

Indeed : no Onur Air, no Luzair, no Hellenic Imperial Airways in the new blacklist.

On Wednesday 05 Nov 2008 at 22h37, VRT (Flemish television) announced the following on it news website deredactie.be:

De Europese Commissie heeft een zwarte lijst opgesteld van luchtvaartmaatschappijen die niet meer in Europa mogen vliegen. De lijst wordt morgen voorgelegd aan het Europees Parlement. Naast de beruchte Turkse carrier Onur staan op de nieuwe lijst, die volgende week van kracht wordt, ook vier Europese maatschappijen. Het gaat om het Griekse Hellenic Imperial Airways dat al in maart 2006 vliegverbod kreeg, maar sindsdien van Jordanië verhuisde naar Cyprus, Syrië en nu naar Sierra Leone. Hellenic zet één Boeing 747 in. Daarnaast is er een kleine Duitse chartergroep en een Portugese reisorganisator Luzair. Het meest relevant voor België is het verbod op vluchten van Bravo Airlines, een samenwerkingsverband tussen de Congolese luchtvaartlijnen en het Spaanse Bravo, dat vanuit Kinshasa en Dakar met een jumbo op Brussel vliegt. De Europese Commissie vult de zwarte lijst geregeld aan.

The European Commission has made a new blacklist of airlines, banned in Europe. The list will be presented to the European Parliament on Friday 7th November 2008. Apart from Onur Air, a carrier with bad reputation, four European airlines have been added: Hellenic Imperial Airways from Greece, already banned in 2006 but moved to Jordania, Cyprus, Syria and now Sierra Leone. Hellenic has one 747. There is also a small German charter group banned, and also the Portugese touroperator Luzair. Most relevant for Belgium is the banning of the Spanish carrier Bravo Airlines, a setup between Congolese airlines and the Spanish Bravo, and flying from Kinshasa and Dakar onto Brussels with a jumbo. The European Commission regularly updates the blacklist.

The story has disappeared from the VRT-website. Hyperlink on Wednesday 05 Nov was:
deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie/buitenland/081105_zwartelijst

- - -

My guess : the European Parliament disagreed with the initial blacklist that the European Commission had made. Hence also the delay between announcement and publication.

How irresponsible of VRT media outlet to name and shame airlines without an evidence. Now look at the updated list and you can't find those named airlines there. And the link of that claim (news) disappeared.

Shame on you VRT!!!!!!!!

[Lyulka]

Can anyone tell me if the ban for Bravo Air Congo also counts for the operation of their 767, which is registered in Spain?
Based on the list Bravo can not even operate wet-leased planes.

[LX-LGX]

Can anyone tell me if the ban for Bravo Air Congo also counts for the operation of their 767, which is registered in Spain? Based on the list Bravo can not even operate wet-leased planes.

Airlines who are totally banned may use wet-lease planes from not-banned carriers (= they may ask for such permit). See remark for both Annex A and B: quote: "...Air carriers listed in Annex A could be permitted to exercise traffic rights by using wet-leased aircraft of an air carrier which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with..." unquote

EC-JOZ, 767-200ER msn 24150 is registered in Spain by Bravo Airlines (Spain), not by Bravo Air Congo (D.R. Congo). The plane is (was?) wet-leased by Bravo Airlines (Spain) to Air Ivoire since 02/05/2008, but that's not relevant. Plane also seems to be grounded in MAD since ??/09/2008.

So Bravo Air Congo is allowed to ask the European Commission for a permit to operate EC-JOZ on wet-lease, as long as the plane remains EC-JOZ, thus registered with Bravo Airlines (Spain): this means that the Spanish CAA is checking its airworthness.

[LX-LGX]

Interesting development:

Two Dutch EU-MEP's disagree with the blacklist. They say that Luzair, Hellenic Imperial Airways and Bravo Airlines are temporary banned by the civil aviation authority from their own country, and therefore have to appear on the EU blacklist. Banned in one EU member state indeed means banned in all EU member states. Same applies for one German charter company - name not known yet.

The long delay between the initial announcement (5th Nov), the date set for vote (6th Nov) and the final publication (14th Nov) was clearly used for dirty games behind the scene. Seems that Portugal, Greece, Spain and Germany managed to amend the proposal that the European Commission has presented to the European Parliament.

Source: luchtvaartnieuws.nl (= in Dutch)
http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/?ID=28632

Translated through google.translate.com:
http://tinyurl.com/5m6arl

Diplomats in The Netherlands aren't happy with the 3 last EU blacklists. The president from Indonesia (a former Dutch colony) is officially invited to Holland, but he only wants to come on board a Garuda plane. But Garuda is banned in the EU, like all Indonesian carriers.