In light of the situation in Ukraine, and the sanctions imposed on Russia so far, on 11 April 2022 the Commission updated the EU Air Safety List, a list of air carriers from non-European countries which do not fulfil the necessary international safety standards and which, therefore, are subject to operational restrictions within the Union.

The List applies to all air carriers irrespective of their nationality and only to commercial air transport, while private and non-commercial flights are excluded. More particularly, if the Commission or a Member State confirm evidence indicating serious safety deficiencies on the part of an airline or its oversight authority, the list will be updated to include such airline or all those of such country. As long as the air carrier is subject to a total ban, neither its aircraft nor its personnel can operate in the Union’s airspace, while if the air carrier is subject to a partial ban it can operate only with the aircraft stipulated in the List. Being included into the list, however, is not permanent, inasmuch as air carriers can be removed by addressing a request to the Commission and by providing evidence of a sufficient capacity to implement international safety standards.

The latest update finds its rationale in the serious safety concerns following Russia’s forced re-registration of foreign-owned aircraft; which, in practice, knowingly allows their operation without valid certificates of airworthiness, thereby breaching international aviation safety standards. Therefore, 20 Russian airlines have been added to the List, which now includes 117 in total, with additional two airlines (Iran Air and Air Koryo) subject to operational restrictions and able to fly to the Union only with specific aircraft types.

Marco Stillo