The European Commission has kept Nepal’s aviation sector on its air safety blacklist. According to an updated report released on Friday, all 20 airlines licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) remain prohibited from operating in European airspace.
Nepal has been on the EU’s blacklist since 2013. While the country was removed from the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) “grey list” in 2018 due to improvements in aviation safety, the EU has continued to ban Nepali airlines despite repeated appeals. This restriction prevents Nepali carriers from flying to Europe, although European airlines are still permitted to operate in Nepal.
In this update, Tanzania has been added to the EU blacklist due to safety concerns flagged by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Conversely, Pakistan International Airlines has been removed from the list.
The blacklist now includes 129 airlines from 15 countries, with bans extending to 22 Russian airlines, Tanzania’s Air Tanzania, Zimbabwe’s Air Zimbabwe, Venezuela’s Avior Airlines, Suriname’s Blue Wing Airlines, Iran’s Asman Airlines, Iraq’s Fly Baghdad and Iraqi Airways, among others.
Additionally, the EU’s grey list names airlines with restricted operations. These include seven airlines from Angola (with two exempt from the ban), two from Afghanistan, nine from Armenia, 17 from Congo, one from Djibouti, two from Equatorial Guinea, two from Eritrea, 14 from Kyrgyzstan, 20 from Nepal, one from Sao Tome and Principe, and 12 from Sudan. Airlines from Liberia and Sierra Leone also remain on the list.
Furthermore, Iran’s Air Iran and North Korea’s Air Korea are restricted from operating certain aircraft in European skies, as per the Commission’s announcement.
