In a vote on 11 October the transport committee in the European Parliament approved the report by Christine de Veyrac MEP (EPP-ED, France) by 43 votes for, one against and one abstention, thereby clearing the way for a speedy adoption of a draft regulation to establish an EU black list of unsafe airlines.
All carriers on the list will be banned from flying in the EU airspace, allowing the same level of safety for all flights departing or landing in the EU, said de Veyrac at a press briefing.
Under the new rules, EU passengers will also have to be informed about the identity of foreign carriers when booking stopovers in non-EU countries as part of a longer journey. Passengers will be entitled to a refund for that part of their trip if the carrier appears on the EU blacklist, de Veyrac pointed out.
"The black list will be accessible at all places where passengers are likely to buy a plane ticket," said De Veyrac at a press briefing. The identity of the carrier will have to be communicated at the latest at check-in.
The black list will be established by the Commission and the member states on the basis of common safety criteria. Those are still to be established by the Commission and member states experts sitting in a special air safety committee (so-called 'SAFA committee'). It can be updated via a fast track procedure (comitology) where it is deemed urgent.
The regulation will now be submitted for final approval by the Parliament and EU transport ministers before the end of the year.
