Today's The National newspaper article on
Banned airlines use UAE bases. By Hugh Naylor.
As if this is "news" here.
Aircraft operators banned from flying their planes in European airspace because of safety concerns are routinely using airports in the UAE as transit points, maintenance hubs and even “virtual” operating bases.
An investigation by The National has confirmed that at least half a dozen airlines blacklisted by the European Commission (EC), the executive body of the European Union, are operating in Sharjah and Dubai, as well as airports in the northern Emirates.
Most were deemed unfit to fly in Europe because of “serious safety deficiencies”, according to EC documents, that can include “all types of aircraft”. However, many are still flying into and out of the UAE.
The chief of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) told The National that the body is now drawing up its own blacklist to “clean up” the country’s skies.
Saif al Suwaidi, the head of the GCAA, said a legal loophole meant that airline carriers based in the country but not registered here could slip through the net when it came to safety inspections because the UAE was not responsible for overseeing the planes.
“For that reason, we have started cleaning up the market from those who are misusing the open-sky policy.”
Carriers blacklisted by the EC that use UAE airports, which range from passenger airlines to cargo operators, are primarily registered in countries in eastern Europe and central and southern Asia.
These include East Wing, from the Republic of Kazakhstan, which was blacklisted by the EC in April, Ariana Afghan Airlines from Afghanistan, banned since March 2006, and Ukraine Cargo Airways, added to the blacklist in April last year. That company makes frequent flights via Sharjah International Airport.
Click Airways from the Kyrqyz Republic, which had been using two UAE airports to land its ageing aircraft for four years, has been denied access to UAE airspace in the last two weeks.
Safety measures have come under scrutiny following the crash of a Boeing 707 cargo aircraft shortly after take-off in Sharjah on October 21, killing all six crew. The Sudanese air transport company that operated the aeroplane has now been banned from using UAE airspace until an investigation is complete.