EU Commission adds 21 Russian airlines to banned list
The European Commission announced today it has added a further 21 Russian airlines to the list of carriers prevented from operating in the bloc.
According to the body, the carriers do not meet international safety standards as they are operating domestically without the valid documentation.
“The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has allowed Russian airlines to operate hundreds of foreign-owned aircraft without a valid certificate of airworthiness,” explained the EU transport commissioner Adina Valean.
“The Russian airlines concerned have knowingly done so in breach of relevant international safety standards. This …poses an immediate safety threat.”
Valean said banning the additional 21 carriers was not part of a new round of sanctions but it was due to security issues.
To save the sector following the wave of sanctions imposed by Western countries over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, President Putin signed a law in mid-March allowing Russian airlines to take ownership of foreign-leased planes in the country.