EU tightens safety limits on Iran Air, re-opens to Indonesians

Jul 6, 2010, 15:20 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's executive on Tuesday tightened its safety restrictions on Iran Air, cutting the number of its aircraft which can fly to Europe, as it ruled that two Indonesian carriers are now safe to fly to the bloc.

The European Commission is responsible for maintaining an EU-wide list of airlines considered too dangerous to fly. The list is regularly updated, based on a series of safety checks.

In March, the commission limited Iran Air's flights to the EU by saying that only a handful of its fleet of Fokker-100 planes could enter European airspace. The commission followed that decision with a safety inspection in Iran itself.

'Based on the results of the visit to Iran ... (experts) unanimously supported the expansion of the operating restrictions imposed on Iran Air to exclude from operations into the EU its fleet of Airbus A-320 and of Boeing B-727 and B-747,' the commission said in a statement.

That means that roughly two thirds of Iran Air's fleet is no longer allowed to fly into Europe, commission transport spokeswoman Helen Kearns said.

The decision is purely based on safety procedures and has no relation to the sanctions which the EU recently imposed on Iran in response to its nuclear programme, she stressed.

Separately, safety experts also decided to blacklist Surinam carrier Blue Wing Airlines 'as a consequence of a series of accidents suffered by this airline and series (safety) deficiencies revealed during ramp inspections of its aircraft.'

Blue Wings Airlines, which has already once been blacklisted and then reinstated, flies to French Guiana and the Dutch Antilles, Kearns said. The two destinations are technically part of France and the Netherlands, respectively.

Experts simultaneously decided to take off the blacklist two Indonesian airlines - Metro Batavia and Indonesia Air Asia - based on the 'improvements in the oversight exercised by the competent authorities of Indonesia.'