BRUSSELS: The European Commission has updated its airline blacklist, removing Thailand’s Phuket Air but placing restrictions on Pakistan International Airlines.
EC vice-president transport Jacques Barrot said the removal of Phuket Air from the blacklist “shows that our list acts not only as essential protection against unsafe operations but also as a strong and effective incentive for companies who deviate from international safety norms to address their shortcomings,”
Phuket Air ran into operational problems with its flights to the UK, at one point stranding passengers en route to London.
Ten carriers from Kyrgyzstan, Equatorial Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo were added to the EC blacklist list and a partial ban on Sudan’s Air West was made total.
As reported earlier on TravelMole Asia, the European Union cited safety concerns when banning most of PIA’s Boeing and Airbus fleet from flying to the 27 countries in EU.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority deputy director General Vice Marshal Muhammad Safdar Khan told the local Daily Times that the CAA was satisfied with the PIA fleet and would contest the ban.
