The European Union last week updated its Air Safety List, which now bars 154 airlines from operating in EU airspace, down from 169 a year ago. The list, maintained since 2006, includes carriers that fail international safety standards or operate in countries with weak aviation oversight.
Russian airlines remain on the blacklist because of the war with Ukraine, including Aeroflot. Other countries whose carriers are barred include Tanzania, Suriname, Sudan and Libya. In the latest update, the EU also removed all certified airlines in Kyrgyzstan after what the European Commission described as “significant progress” in aviation safety oversight over the past two decades.
At the same time, Air Express Algeria was added after EU aviation experts found major failures in compliance with international safety rules. The updated list now contains 126 airlines from 16 countries with inadequate national oversight, including Afghanistan, Libya, Nepal, Sudan, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, plus 22 Russian airlines and six individual airlines from other countries, among them Air Zimbabwe, Fly Baghdad, Iraqi Airways and Air Express Algeria.
One blacklisted carrier still flies to Israel: Fly One Armenia, which operates three weekly flights between Yerevan and Tel Aviv, with round-trip fares averaging about $400 on the company’s website. The airline itself was not singled out for a specific defect, but all Armenian airlines were blacklisted in 2020 because Armenia’s civil aviation authority was judged not to meet required international supervision standards. The decision was based on concerns about the regulator’s oversight, not necessarily the aircraft themselves. The update came as the blacklist marked 20 years, and a new Europe-wide survey found 70% of Europeans see it as effective, 75% believe it is updated for professional safety reasons, but only 12% check it before booking and just 8% would knowingly fly with a blacklisted airline.
