Nigeria Air
Nigeria is among countries whose airlines were banned from flying into the European Union, latest reports reveal following crash of Lion Air of Indonesia. Nigeria has no national carrier but Arik Air and a host of other indigenous airlines have made incursions into international travels with Arik being the face of Nigeria carrier.
A fresh federal government effort to kick-start a new national carrier after the collapse of Nigeria Airways has failed due largely to improper feasibility studies, logistics deployment and planning. Nigeria Air is the proposed name for the new carrier.
The list of countries with banned airlines include Afghanistan – 2 airlines, Angola – 13, Republic of Congo – 8, Democratic Republic of Congo – 21, Djibouti – 1, Equatorial Guinea – 2, Eritrea – 2, Gabon – 6, Iran – 1,Iraq – 1, Kyrgyz Republic – 13, Libya – 7, Nepal – 18, Nigeria – 1. Others are Sao Tome and Principe – 2, Sierra Leone – 7, Sudan – 12, Suriname – 1, Venezuela – 1, and Zimbabwe – 1. These nations and their airlines, according to European authorities were said to have poor safety records largely due to non-adherence of global safety and maintenance standards. The list resurfaced in the aftermath of Lion Air crash.
Indonesia Lion Air was included on the list alongside Wings Air and Batik Air in 2007 as the European Commission had concerns about Indonesia’s oversight of airline regulations. It stayed on the banned list for nine years.
However it was taken off the Flight Safety List in 2016, meaning it can now fly within the EU again.
The UK Sun reports that the airline, which is Indonesia’s biggest budget carrier has suffered a number of other crashes in the last fifteen years, including flight 538 which killed 25 people in 2004.
The Flight Safety list was last updated in June this year and features 120 airlines that aren’t allowed to fly into the EU.
Before this latest revision, Indonesia features heavily on the list, with 55 airlines currently banned – however these were all removed in June.
Airlines on the list include Air Zimbabwe, Iraqi Airways, Air Libya and Buddha Air (Nepal).
There is also a separate list of six airlines which can only fly into the EU with special restrictions in place on which aircraft they use.
These are Taag Angola Airlines (Angola), Air Service Comores (Comores) Afrijet Business Services (Gabon), Nouvelle Air Affaires Gabon (Gabon), Iran Air (Iran) and Air Koryo (North Korea).
With 55 different Indonesian airlines taken off the banned list, passengers can now fly on them and some of them even head to the popular tourist island of Bali.
One of the previously banned airlines – Sriwijaya Air – could easily be used by Brit holidaymakers, as it regularly runs flights available on Skyscanner between Jakarta and the country’s tourist hotspots.
You could easily book a flight on Skyscanner for as little as £28 one way between Jakarta and Lombok, another paradise island – without knowing that the airline was previously banned closer to home.
The EU stated in its Aviation Strategy in 2015 that it pledges to “maintain high levels of safety”.
These airlines may have a perfect safety record but there may be concerns about poor upkeep of aircraft, which means the risk towards passengers is too high.
The report states that airlines on the list do not conform “with the necessary technical elements and requirements prescribed by the applicable international safety standards.”
Several airlines on the list have had fatal crashes in recent years, such as Nepal’s Buddha Air which had a crash on a scenic flight from Kathmandu to Mount Everest in 2011 that killed 19 people.
