MAJOR BLOW FOR AIR ZIMBABWE AS THE AIRLINE IS ADDED TO THE EU BLACKLIST
(Posted 17th May 2017)
Plans to revive Air Zimbabwe have hit a major obstacle as the airline was just added to the notorious blacklist of the European Union over safety concerns expressed by the EU regulators.
The Zimbabwean national airline was joined by three other carriers, one from Nigeria, one from the Ukraine and another from St. Vincent and Grenadines.
Recent audits of these countries by EASA revealed enough shortcomings to warrant the inclusion of Air Zimbabwe on the list it was learned overnight after the latest updates were published in Brussels yesterday.
In contrast was Mozambique as a country cleared and taken off the blacklist, giving LAM the option to seek landing rights in any of the EU countries. Benin too was removed from the updated list.
The EU has both entire countries as well as airlines found to cause safety concerns with EASA on the list which presently included 16 countries and 174 airlines.
Over the past months were repeated comments from both the airline and the Zimbabwean government interpreted that a major revival would soon go underway but under the present circumstances will this ambition now face yet more challenges than just finding the finances to do it as other countries often adopt EASA’s bans and prohibit flights into or above their territories.
