Air Transport

Turkish airline loses landing rights in some EU nations but others keep door open

European civil aviation authorities were last week split over their approach to addressing safety concerns surrounding Turkish carrier Onur Air, as the European Commission prepared to discuss issues arising from the case.

While Onur Air was forbidden to land in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Switzerland after falling foul of Dutch safety inspections, the civil aviation authorities of Belgium, Denmark and the UK allowed the airline to continue operating.

The situation is being seen as a test of European Union resolve in dealing with third-country airlines whose aircraft are found not to comply with safety standards.

EU member states last year agreed legislation intended to improve the exchange of safety information, adopt a common policy towards non-compliant carriers and give the European Commission the power to impose an EU-wide ban on suspect airlines. But this legislation is not due to enter into force until 2006 and the Onur Air case has revealed that, rather than adopting a unified front, individual states are taking different approaches.

The European Commission's transport division says that responsibility to ban a carrier still lies with member states' national authorities. But it says that the EC is to convene a meeting of member states to discuss the issues generated by the Onur Air matter.

"In the future when an airline is banned in a particular country, or there is a suspension of flights or reduction of flights in a particular territory, this has to be consolidated at European level by the EC," it says. "The EC perfectly well understands that passengers are somewhat surprised that an aircraft that could not take off in one country is allowed to take off in a neighbouring country."

The French, German and Swiss authorities supported the Dutch ban on Onur Air, imposing their own restrictions within hours. But the Belgian, Danish and UK authorities conducted separate inspections of the airline's aircraft and found no reason to withdraw landing permission, although Belgium has blocked two specific aircraft.

European legislation to tighten control of third-country aircraft emerged after a fatal accident involving a Boeing 757 operated by Turkish airline Birgenair in the Dominican Republic in 1996.

Adoption of the legislation was given greater urgency by the Egyptian Flash Airlines 737 crash in January last year, after which it emerged that some European countries had banned the carrier.

The Dutch civil aviation administration says it decided to impose its month-long ban on Onur Air on 12 May because "for a long period of time inspectors had noticed minor failures and issued warnings, but didn't see any improvements".

Onur Air says the Dutch action was "unfortunate and unfair".

DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW/LONDON