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European Union proposes global airline black list after Yemen crash
For several years, the European Union has been maintaining an airline black list. The list contains the bottom of the barrel in the aviation world. On it, you won't find any of the big global carriers, but it is very well represented by countries like Kazakhstan, Angola and the Democratic republic of Congo.As it turns out, the airline involved in the most recent crash had once been on the black list for incomplete reporting on its fleet inspections.
That crash has now prompted the E.U. transport commissioner, Antonio Tajani to propose turning the the European black list in to a global black list.
As much as I like the idea of sharing this kind of information and turning it into a global list, I'm not sure it will actually make any difference - for a global black list to work, every country in the world will have to participate. Thing is, the kind of country that does not take aviation safety that seriously, is not going to be the kind of country that signs up for the black list, only to ground its own national carrier(s).
A global black list of carriers won't do anything to prevent any of the recent air disasters we've seen - Air France would certainly not deserve a spot on the list, nor would Continental/Air Colgan (involved in the Buffalo crash back in February).
Many of these rickety airlines fly within their own country, or to neighboring countries with similar lax oversight. For a global aviation black list to work, countries should help each other, not simply tell them that they are not welcome to land at their airports. I'm pretty sure that "Sky Gate International" from the Kyrgyz Republic won't give a damn if the USA tells them to stay away from any of their airports.
The only other option is to increase passenger awareness and get the list promoted, to help people make an informed decision about whether or not to travel with an unsafe carrier. But if that airline is their only option, I'm guessing they'll take the risk.
The top countries by number of their airlines included in the list:
- Democratic Republic of Congo (57 airlines!)
- Republic of Indonesia (51 airlines)
- Republic of Angola (18 airlines)
- Kyrgyz Republic (17 airlines)
- Equatorial Guinea (9 airlines)
- Sierra Leone (8 airlines)
- Republic of Benin (8 airlines)
- Swaziland (7 airlines)
- Republic of Gabon (7 airlines)
- Republic of Kazakhstan (7 airlines)
- Helimalongo - Republic of Angola
- Alafia Jet - Republic of Benin
- Golden Rules Airlines - Kyrgyz Republic
- Motor Sikh - Ukraine
- Dames - Kyrgyz Republic
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
ANDY Jul 4th 2009 6:35PM
We are living in a world of more and more people NOT giving a damn about their lives, thier, jobs and their wives ! How are these people in any kind of mindset to practice sufficient care about tightening a bolt here and relpacing a fluid there, if left to themselves ? No matter how hard they work the house is on the brink of foreclosure, their spouses are threatening divorce, and the world economic outlook is bleak !
And here we have world leaders with their heads up their asses "TIGHTENING-UP" lending policies like madmen, instead if doing the opposite ! And this is done to keep us from getting into the same trouble that brought us to this point, (they say)....pointing out the past "lax" lending policies for our present woes, when NOTHING is furhter from the truth !!! The very FICO scoring system, ( that can easily be "tweeked" by those w/ money, hence those stated/stated loans [stated income /stated assets ] is what got us in trouble; so rather than do the sound thing of doing away with UNFAIR ISSAC altogether, we RAISE the score requirement to further help the rich to gain access to money, while leaving the rest of us in the dust ! IF THIS ISN'T INSANITY THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS !!!
The solution to a better world, which translates to a good mindset for all workers is to help people to succeed by applying the DTI model of "old school" way of doing business, where debt is assessed and income verified and no matter what the FICO "score" is, the borrower qualifies; so that a lot more than the "to date" bailout money of 6% goes out; and money is what makes the world spin around and until it is spinning sufficiently enough to provide security for all of us, we should absolutely FEAR to get on a plane, or consume any product that is produced and serviced by people who are in dire straits all around.
Geographer Jul 5th 2009 11:26AM
The Republic of Congo cited above is in fact the Democratic Republic of Congo according to the EU source list Mr. Carmichael cites. The two are not the same, as the Republic of Congo is a separate, sovereign, neighboring country in Central Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire).
Hopefully the blog post will be corrected shortly.