Turkish-based carrier Southwind Airlines has failed in a legal bid to overturn a ban on its flying within the European Union.
The carrier, which operates services from Antalya, had sought to open services to Finland but was informed in March by Finnish authorities that its flights were not permitted.
Finnish transport regulators believe the airline is not owned and controlled by Turkish interests, but rather by Russian entities, a claim to which Southwind has objected.
Southwind was subsequently informed by German authorities that it was subject to a landing, take-off and overflight ban, a matter confirmed by the European Commission on 29 March.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency also told Southwind on 29 March that its aircraft were subject to restrictive measures and that EASA was required to remove the airline’s third-country authorisation.
Southwind founder Cortex Havacilik ve Turizm Ticaret lodged a formal action with the European Union’s General Court in April, seeking annulment of the “contested act” – the operation of the Commission’s 29 March email regarding the flight ban.
The company also sought interim measures in May to suspend the act, have EASA restore its third-country authorisation, and prevent EU member states from blocking the carrier’s flights.
While the Commission had simply provided information to Southwind, judgement in the case centred on a specific legal point as whether the Commission’s action was “challengeable”, as Southwind claimed.
But the General Court ruled, on 6 August, that the Commission’s “contested act” was not one against which an action for annulment could be brought – and that Southwind’s action was “manifestly inadmissible”.
