Switzerland's civil aviation authority banned Flash Airlines from landing at Swiss airports after an inspection on 27 April 2002 revealed "obvious maintenance lapses in the landing gear, the engines and the flight controls" on one of the aircraft and "identical problems" on a second aircraft when it was inspected on 11 October 2002. The inspections were carried out under the European Civil Aviation Conference safety assessment of foreign aircraft (SAFA) programme. France's own SAFA spot checks found the airline operating to acceptable standards.
Meanwhile, UK transport minister Alistair Darling has published a list of airlines banned from UK airports in response to criticism that there is a lack of transparency in the SAFA system. All airlines from five countries are banned from the UK - Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Tajikistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - on the grounds of "inadequate safety regulation". Seven specific airlines were banned following inspections that revealed unsatisfactory technical or documentary standards, and two for failing to pay fines charged when the airlines carried passengers with inadequate travel documentation to the UK.
Source: Flight International
