UAE ban on Antonov 'long overdue'

Dubai: The UAE ban on the Antonov An-12 was long overdue as the four-engine turboprop transport plane had already been banned in several countries over safety fears, a top cargo industry executive said on Tuesday.

Fathi Hilal Buhazza, president and chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi-based Maximus Air Cargo, told Gulf News although some airlines found it cheaper to carry cargo on the old Soviet-era plane, its "operating standards are not acceptable in many countries."

He said the ban was "long overdue and not surprising." Maximus hopes to attract new customers that earlier used services operated on the banned plane.

"Those people will have to look at their options again," Buhazza said, adding that some cargo operators using the An-12 were able to provide cheaper freight rates because they paid comparatively lerss in insurance and operating costs.

The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the federal UAE aviation regulator, in a statement on Tuesday cited "numerous incidents" involving the An-12 behind its decision to ban it from flying in the country's airspace.

Saif Mohammad Al Suwaidi, director-general of the authority, said national and international civil aviation regulations and standards mandated the GCAA "to take necessary actions to ensure the safety of our airspace and international civil aviation."

The ban, which came in force on January 8, was "necessary to ensure the safety of the travelling public until the GCAA completes its investigative actions in accordance with national and international civil aviation standards and regulations," Al Suwaidi added.

In November, an An-12 plane chartered by Falcon Aviation Group Ltd, a Dubai-based logistics operator, and carrying FedEx cargo crashed in Iraq killing seven people.