EU Blacklist Hammer Drops on PIA

As previewed by Air Safety Week here on 26 February, the European Union has banned the majority of Pakistan International Airline's fleet from flying into any of their 27 countries with effect 05 March. Only PIA's seven Boeing 777s would be allowed to fly to the EU. That's believed to be related to their relatively new condition and Boeing's ongoing support and warranty. PIA claims that the EU's suspension has come as a surprise, but admits that it has followed on from precursory cautions and advice about the dilapidated condition of the banned planes. The EU had said in 2006 that they didn't achieve international standards. It's not known to what extent this "standard" applies directly to regulatory airworthiness or to PIA's  flight-crew's standards.

"PIA has a better safety record than even certain major European airlines and considers this action of EU discriminatory against PIA," said a statement quoting PIA CEO Tariq Kirmani.

In the same dictum, the EU Executive extended their pre-existing ban on Air West (a Sudanese carrier). Its ability to operate to the EU had been restricted, but is now blanket. 49 carriers that had been under an EU moratorium had since ceased to exist and their names had been withdrawn. It's not known how many had restructured and were now operating under a new commercial identity however. The Commission announced that only two carriers had been de-listed and welcomed back into the fold because of a review. These were DAS Air Cargo, an African carrier - and Thailand's Phuket Air. Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that: "Both carriers had taken decisive action to remedy their failings."

It now remains to be seen who will be the first journalist to hazard a guess as to how effective the EU blacklist has been thus far in affecting the accident rate, or for that matter, what (if any) other economic influences may have been distorted by the bans.