African Airlines Association protests against latest EU blacklist

African Airlines Association (AFRAA) expressed concern about the EU's latest blacklist, with 13 of the 17 countries in Africa affected and 111 African carriers blacklisted (African Aviation, 19-Apr-2010).

African Airlines Association: "Air safety is AFRAA's number one priority and we are the first to admit that Africa needs to improve its air safety record. However, while the EU list may be well intended, its main achievement has been to undermine international confidence in the African airline industry. The ultimate beneficiaries of the ban are European airlines, which dominate the African skies to the disadvantage of African carriers. If any list is to be published, it should be done so by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the global regulator of aviation safety, which has a known track record of impartiality … The majority of the banned African airlines had never operated scheduled flights to Europe and do not plan to do so as they have no aircraft with the range to fly to any EU state. Many of the airlines only exist on paper and are not operational. Neither the operating license nor the ICAO registration numbers of most of the banned airlines are known," Nick Fadugba, Secretary General. Source: African Aviation, 19-Apr-2010.