Dubai: Airlines blacklisted by the EU over safety concerns are flying in the UAE. A simple web search shows that Ariana Afghan Airlines, banned by the EU since 2006, flies to Dubai seven times a week. Sudan Airways, banned by the EU since 2010, flies to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah for a total of seven times a week.
A spokesperson for the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) would not comment on the presence of banned airlines in UAE airspace but pointed out that the UAE does not share the same list as the EU. While the GCAA has banned 61 aircraft operators, including 35 charter operators, the EU blacklist can be used by other countries as a guideline on aviation safety policies and as an indicator of unsafe airlines.
The EU ban imposed includes “all air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of” Afghanistan and Sudan.
Ernest Arvai, a US-based aviation consultant and CEO of The Arvai Group, told Gulf News that the presence of EU-banned airlines in the UAE provides an opportunity rather than tainting the country’s image. “The key is helping those countries in difficulty take steps to correct their problems,” he said.
Crash
In 1998 an Ariana Afghan Airlines Kabul-bound flight from Sharjah crashed into the mountains near Kabul International amid poor visibility killing all on board. In 2009 a leased aircraft used by Sudan Airways for freighter services crashed into the desert soon after take off from Sharjah International, killing all on board. The GCAA temporarily banned Azza Transport, the company who had leased the aircraft to Sudan Airways, immediately after the accident.
Several attempts by Gulf News to call Ariana Afghan and Sudan Airways UAE offices were unanswered.
Sultan Muhammad Al Zara, director of foreign operators at GCAA, told Gulf News in an emailed statement that the decision to ban foreign state or foreign operators is made due to “serious safety deficiencies identified by ramp inspections performed under the safety assessment of foreign aircraft programme [SAFA] and/or to the substantiated accident related information or serious incident indicating safety deficiencies.”
Al Zara said that in “some cases the ban decision was due to lacking of ability and/or willingness of operator/state to address the identified the safety deficiencies”.
Airline alliances
Two other carriers, Air Astana from Kazakhstan and Iran Air, are “subject to operational restrictions within the European Union” but operate services to the UAE. The Air Astana and Abu Dhabi Airport website showed multiple flights arriving and departing Abu Dhabi this week.
Arvai said that while Air Astana is under EU restrictions all three major airline alliances, Star, OneWorld and SkyTeam have approached the carrier. “Obviously, the leading airlines in the world disagree [with the restrictions],” he said.
A staffer at Iran Air’s Dubai office said the airline did not face any restrictions when flying in the UAE. In October 2013 the GCAA banned a cargo operator from flying in the UAE. In November 2013 it lifted a ban on a separate cargo operator who had “corrected the findings raised by the GCAA,” Al Zara stated.
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