Aviation safety and prohibition list of air carriers

The European aviation authorities perform safety audits of third-country flights through irregular inspections and enter the results into a European database. The aviation authorities of the Member States also report air carriers that are not considered to meet established aviation safety standards to the European Union. The main factors considered are:

• Inadequate maintenance of aeroplanes.

• An operator is not able to make the necessary improvements.

• The aeronautical authorities of the State of registry of an operator are not sufficiently able to cope with the situation created.

Periodic ramp inspections of European countries found exceptional audit findings on certain states and certain air carriers, leading the European Commission and the European Parliament to elaborate (pdf) on those air carriers and individual states that do not meet international safety standards and that therefore flights within the European Economic Area are prohibited.

If an air carrier wishes to be removed from the list, it contacts the individual aviation authorities or the European Commission.

EU experts will then detail the safety situation of the air carrier before a decision is made on whether to remove the air carrier from the list.

Laws and rules

• Regulation no. from 2006