FLUG REVUE October 2005: Airline black lists are helpful

October 2005

FRANCE INTRODUCES AIRLINE BLACKLIST

By Volker K Thomalla

What do the North Korean Air Koryo, the American Air Saint Thomas, the Liberian International Air Service and Phuket Airlines have in common? These five airlines are the first to appear on the blacklist published by DGAC, the French aviation authority, on the Internet on 29 August. The French government had for some time been calling for a common European Blacklist of unsafe airlines, but was unable to convince the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and the EU. Implementation of such a proposal received only half-hearted support from some countries in the EU, with the result that such a list still does not exist today, even though the EU transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, supports the introduction of a European Blacklist.

After the crash of a Boeing 737 operated by Flash Airlines near Sharm el Sheik in January 2004 and the similar demise of a West Caribbean Airways MD-80 in Venezuela in August 2005, which together claimed 300 French lives, the French government has gone ahead and published its own Blacklist on the global data network. At the same time it also posted an extensive positive list of airlines which are allowed to fly in France on the Internet.

By acting in this way, France is stepping up the pressure on those airlines which have been singled out. IATA, as the world's largest association of airlines, has consistently opposed a Blacklist, citing data protection and liability as arguments against having such lists. Here IATA is not alone. Several other European authorities have advanced these same reasons.

In my view there is no reason why the names of airlines with inadequate safety standards should not be published. This would raise the pressure on those companies enormously and force them to improve their safety standards to a reasonable level so as to get their names off the list as soon as possible. In my opinion, data protection is a weak argument when it is a matter of air safety, as we are talking here about protecting human lives.

At the same time the threat of being placed on the blacklist will encourage fly-by-nights not to infringe the safety regulations. Hesitant behaviour and waiting for a pan-European solution could endanger human lives. When it is a matter of air safety, compromises are unacceptable.

Switzerland has now followed the example of France with the publication of its own blacklist on the Internet at the beginning of September. Belgium plans to follow shortly. For the air transport industry and its customers, the blacklist can only be a good thing. It will ensure that companies which skimp on safety at the expense of placing their passengers' lives at risk either come to their senses or else disappear from the market.

From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 10/2005

Last updated 14 September 2005

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