Bulgarian cargo airlines
A senior director of a Bulgarian cargo airline called me last night to say that all Bulgarian cargo carriers will have their Operating Certificates cancelled.
As you may know, their Antonov An-12 and An-26 aircraft have been grounded since early this year (when Bulgaria joined the EU) because the EU safety group (EASA) wanted to investigate whether Bulgarian standards were equivalent to European standards.
Well it seems that, despite strenuous efforts and a lot of expense by the airlines, EASA and the Bulgarian CAA have decided that they are not.
Presumably this will affect Air Sofia, Vega, Bright Aviation, Heli Air and Scorpion.
A major blow for those guys, and a particular frustration because it now means that non-EU An-12 operators can operate freely within Europe, but the only truly European An-12 airlines cannot.
Is this correct? Can anyone confirm it?