Iranian carrier Mahan Air and the Eastern European operator Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines have both been added to the European Commission’s blacklist of banned airlines.

The blacklist was updated 11 September, just two months since its last revision.

Mahan Air, located in Tehran, has already been prohibited from operating within the UK. It was banned in July after concerns about the carrier’s operational control and safety management levels, notably following serious low-approach incidents by Mahan Airbus A310s at Birmingham.

In the same month Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines (UM Air) – which operates Boeing MD-80s, McDonnell Douglas DC-9s and Soviet-built types – faced a similar ban in its home state after Ukrainian authorities suspended its licence citing safety violations.

The Kiev-based airline came under scrutiny in 2003, days after the fatal loss of a Yakovlev Yak-42 in Turkey, when the Ukrainian ministry of transport claimed there were indications of breaches in operational regulations.

European transport commissioner Jacques Barrot says that the relatively short interval between the last revision and today’s update demonstrates that the blacklist is a “dynamic instrument” which does not necessarily depend on quarterly reviews.

Seven countries – Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo – still have a blanket ban imposed upon air transport operations to Europe.

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Source: FlightGlobal.com

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