Top EU transport official calls for worldwide airline blacklist

EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani called on Tuesday for a worldwide blacklist of unsafe airlines after a Yemeni airliner crashed off the coast of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros.

EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani called on Tuesday for a worldwide blacklist of unsafe airlines after a Yemeni airliner crashed off the coast of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros.

HT Image

"My idea is to propose a worldwide blacklist similar to the one we have in the European Union," Tajani told journalists in Brussels.

"If we want to achieve better safety I'm convinced that we need to have a worldwide blacklist, the European blacklist works pretty well in Europe," he added.

"Otherwise it's going to be difficult to have an adequate level of safety."

France's transport minister said that French inspectors had noted numerous faults on the Yemenia jet that crashed Tuesday with 153 people on board and the company was being closely monitored by EU authorities.

Tajani said that he would be contacting Yemenia and that the European blacklist would be updated soon, noting that the airline was not currently on the list.