Two Ghanaian airlines were added, on 2 September, to the EU list of air carriers subject to an operating ban. They are Meridian Airways, a cargo airline operating from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and Airlift International, also a cargo airline. The process was triggered by security inspections carried out in the United Kingdom.

In the case of Meridian Airways, the operating ban affects all of the fleet’s aircraft. In the case of Airlift International, the ban only concerns three aircraft, leaving the airline with one aircraft that is still permitted to operate into the EU. In a communication, the European Commission specifies that it will intensify its consultations with the civil aviation organisation of Ghana to find sustainable solutions to the identified safety problems. The Commission will review the case of the two carriers at the next meeting of the Air Safety Committee - the body that prepares the Commission’s decision on the matter - in November.

Today, the black list includes five individual carriers whose operations are fully banned in the EU, as well as all carriers from the following countries: Angola, Benin, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon (with the exception of three carriers that operate under restrictions and conditions), Indonesia (with the exception of six carriers), Kazakhstan (with the exception of one carrier that operates under restrictions and conditions), the Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland and Zambia.

The updated black list is available at ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban