MANILA -- The European Union denied Philippine international carriers of landing rights on its member-countries for failure to regain topnotch aviation safety rating.
“The European Commission has adopted today the 13th update of the Community’s list of airlines banned in the European Union to include all air carriers of two additional countries: Sudan and the Philippines, on the basis of safety assessments by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)," the commission said in a statement.
European Commission vice president Siim Kallas added: "Safety comes first. We are ready to support countries that need to build up technical and administrative capacity to guarantee the necessary standards in civil aviation. But we cannot accept that airlines fly into the EU if they do not fully comply with international safety standards."
The new listing now puts 278 airliners from 17 nations banned from flying to European Union member countries.
These are: Angola, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland and Zambia. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)