The European Commission has banned all air carriers registered in Afghanistan and Mauritania from flying in EU airspace due to the poor safety record of their civil aviation oversight system.
Afric Aviation of Gabon and Kyrgyz airline CAAS have been added to the the 27-nation bloc's blacklist of unsafe carriers.
Nine Kazakh operators were removed from the list after their national authority revoked their air operator certificates and that these operators are no longer involved in commercial air transport.
Operating restrictions imposed on Ghana's Airlift International were partly lifted following progress achieved and the carrier was allowed to resume operations in the EU, under strict conditions.
The European Commission - in consultation with member-states' aviation safety authorities - regularly updates a list of airlines found to be unsafe from operating in European airspace on the basis of inspections by European Aviation Safety Agency.
The ban becomes effective on Tuesday.
European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for mobility and transport, said in a statement: "We cannot afford to compromise on air safety. Where we have evidence that air carriers are not performing safe operations or where the regulatory authorities fail in their obligation to enforce the safety standards we must act to ensure there will be no risks to safety."
He said Afghanistan did not conform to international civil aviation standards.
Safi Airways, Pamir Airways, and Kam Airfrom have been added to the EU blacklist of unsafe carriers. The country's national carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines is already in the list.
Afghanistan has not yet set up the basic international civil aviation regulatory requirements such as aircraft registry, certification, inspection, and enforcement.
Safi Airways blamed the Afghan government for not creating a national civil aviation authority that would come under the control of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and for not reacting to a European Commission demand to meet international civil aviation criterion.
However, the Kabul-based airline is seeking other ways to overcome the ban on European destinations.
Safi Airways said in a statement that it had notified the executive arm of the European Union that it was "currently in discussions to acquire a European airline in order to bring its fleet under European aviation supervision."
Safi Airways, which also operates a base in Dubai, is the only Afghan airline certified by the ICAO.
Company CEO Werner Borchert said "By re-registering its fleet, Safi can again operate into European airspace and will not be restricted by the blacklisting of Afghanistan based airlines."
A complete ban on flights from Mauritania was imposed after persisting deficiencies regarding the operations and maintenance of the air carrier Mauritania Airways were identified in inspections.
The updated European list includes all carriers certified in 19 countries -- mostly from Africa -- accounting for 276 known air carriers, whose operations are fully banned in the European Union.
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