Deputy chief of the Russian Air Transport Agency Evgeny Bachurin says Russia’s European flight ban on the nine companies could help them escape the EU’s blacklist.
Photo: Grigory Tambulov
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Nine Russian Airlines Grounded
Russian authorities have barred nine airline companies from flying to the European Union. The ban was imposed on such large air carriers as UTAir, Atlant-Soyuz and Russian Sky, threatening them and other companies with being blacklisted in the EU.
The Russian transport supervision and air transport agencies have issued a joint order, barring nine Russian air companies from operating scheduled and charter flights to the European Union from February 12 on, the Transport Ministry said Friday.
The European Commission sent a notice to Russian air transport officials listing nine Russian companies which scored the lowest in inspections by the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircrafts in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the Russian Air Agency told Kommersant. The EU commission said it might blacklist those companies to be barred from flying to the EU. Russian air authorities have put their ban ahead of meeting European counterparts. “We hope that these measures will help these companies escape blacklisting in the EU,” deputy chief of the Russian Air Agency Evgeny Bachurin told Kommersant.
The companies, which include UTAir and Atlant-Souyz from Russia’s top ten air carriers, do not expect major losses from the ban as they do not operate many flights in the low winter season. The air carriers retort that SAFA inspections had found only minor problems. “The only SAFA inspection at out company that we know of has got only two negative remarks,” UTAir Director General Andrey Martirosov says.
The next session of the European Commission’s air safety committee is on February 21. “If the airlines do not want to fix the problems by then, we will be ready to lift our ban,” Evgeny Bachurin said. In this case, it will up to the Europeans to decide if they allow the nine companies in question to fly to Europe.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 19, 2007
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