Russian airlines dominates on EU black list

The European Union has published a new update of the list of airlines that are not allowed to fly to or over EU countries or only under strict conditions. The ranking now also includes 21 Russian airlines.

It is the 39th time the EU has released the revised list. This time it includes 117 airlines. Of these, 90 come from the 15 countries where Brussels believes that the authorities are monitoring flight safety poorly.

Six airlines have also been individually classified as structurally unsafe. These are Avior Airlines (Venezuela), Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname), Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Iraqi Airways (Iraq), Med-View Airlines (Nigeria) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe). The North Korean Air Koryo is only allowed to come to Europe with two specific Tupolev Tu-204s, and from Iran Air only the outdated Fokker 100s are not welcome.

Due to the war in Ukraine, 21 Russian airlines have been blacklisted, including Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Pobeda. In principle, these are not unsafe, but due to the trade restrictions, parts for their devices may no longer be supplied.

Not all flight companies mentioned on the list flew to Europe; in some cases these are small regional companies that do not have the appropriate devices for this at all. However, Brussels wants to warn EU residents not to use the services of those companies deemed unsafe abroad.