EU Air Safety Blacklist Proposal

For pilots in training — or those seeking employment at airlines in Europe — this new proposal on air safety is of interest.  The European Parliament has just approved the first step towards openly blacklisting airlines that do not meet international aircraft safety standards.  They plan to compile and publish a list of operating bans or air traffic restrictions and to "name and shame" the carriers throughout the EU.

Some countries already have their own blacklists, but these lists are not typically publically available — nor shared with other EU countries. 

Last year Flash Airlines, one of whose aircraft crashed in 2004 in Egypt, was on such a blacklist in Switzerland for failing a safety test, but this blacklisting was not known to the 133 passengers aboard the jet. 

The proposals now going through the EU Parliament would give both potential airline employees, as well as air travelers, easy access to information on the safety of the airlines they  are considering flying — either as a passenger or as a pilot.