Yemenia Airways itself was on the verge of being listed a year ago, but narrowly escaped after drawing up a 'corrective action plan' to address EU safety concerns. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
BRUSSELS - FRANCE has called for a world aviation black list in the wake of a Yemeni airliner crash but the plan would be tough to implement and requires the political will of many governments to succeed.
Black-listing must be based on 'technical questions' and not politics
However an aviation expert at the EU's executive arm underlined that 'black-listing must be done on the basis of purely technical questions. It must have nothing to do with politics.' On Friday, France warned Yemenia Airways that its name was on the line.
'This company is under strict surveillance,' Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau told RTL radio. 'If it does not want to go on the black list, it will have to make big efforts, very big efforts.' The commission has been more cautious.
An important means of pressure as well as a sanction for security failures, the list would have to be backed by governments and supervised by national capitals rather than any global aviation body.
'A black list is an action taken by states and the states are responsible for enforcing its requirements,' said Mr Denis Chagnon, spokesman at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which oversees air transport.
Putting an airline on it would be a hard decision to take because such a move is a costly sanction, something like 'a death sentence' for a company, he said.
In the aftermath of Tuesday's crash of the Yemenia Airbus A310 near the Comoros capital Moroni, in which 152 died, the European Commission also sounded the call for a world blacklist based on the EU's own.
The EU's method rankles, with some governments exerting heavy political pressure to ensure that their national flag carriers are not targeted, but the results are clear.
Garuda Indonesia was added to Europe's black list two years ago, and following corrective measures is due to be struck from a new list to be released within the next fortnight.
Yemenia Airways itself was on the verge of being listed a year ago, but narrowly escaped after drawing up a 'corrective action plan' to address EU safety concerns.
Not only does it force airlines to act, black-listing can also free up public funds to help companies improve standards, and the European Commission has decided to use the momentum to push for a global list.
'We need something and we need it quickly,' said an official working with EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani. -- AFP
