Secret airline blacklist revealed

The BBC has published an article claiming that there are six airlines banned from flying in certain countries, but that the carriers will remain secret and their names will not be published. As reported by News From Abroad, it was revealed yesterday that Flash Airlines, the carrier whose jet crashed into the Red Sea at the weekend, killing all 148 people on board, had been banned from Swiss airspace over safety concerns. But now the BBC News website claims that Flash is just one of six carriers that were banned from at least one European country in 2002 – and that even though the names of the carriers are not officially secret, passengers and tour operators can only get the information if a country’s government decides to release it. The BBC quotes the Department of Transport in stating that Switzerland had imposed four “bans or restrictions”; Belgium and the Netherlands one each, but that the names were not being revealed. A spokesman reportedly said: “Information is shared between member states of the European Civil Aviation Conference but it is for the state taking the action to put out any information.” To read the full article, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3372339.stm