EU BANS AIR MADAGASCAR B767’S
The latest edition of the now both eagerly and anxiously awaited EU Aviation Blacklist has added two long haul aircraft of Air Madagascar to the growing list of aircraft and airlines banned from flying into European airspace. It was learned overnight that two B767-300ER, the apparently only long haul aircraft of Air Madagascar able to fly to Europe, have been black listed over a range of safety concerns to do with maintenance and subsequent doubts over their continued airworthiness. This will effectively cut off Madagascar from their key trading and potential tourism markets in Europe, aiding critics of the current regime which has been shunned even by the otherwise lukewarm African Union, and has been under varying degrees of trade embargoes already from many other countries. In fact, many airlines have halted flights to Madagascar, also over growing concerns about airport safe operations, since ICAO a few months ago issued a damning report about blatant shortcomings in operational safety.
The island’s tourism traffic, already dwindled to a trickle due to the bad publicity the regime has generated, will be hit yet more as intending travelers now have to make considerable detours and very likely will have to pay substantially higher fares, should they still wish to visit the otherwise famous national parks and forest, where the rare lemur’s have their habitat.
