By Dipo Olowookere
The European Commission has stopped Med-View Airline, a Nigerian firm, from entering countries under the European Union.
This is as a result of safety concerns raised by the commission about the airline operator.
On November 20, 2015, Med-View began flying the Lagos-Garwick route with a Boeing 767 aircraft which operated four times a week.
Also barred from flying the EU airspace were Air Zimbabwe, Aviation Company Urga from Ukraine, and Mustique Airways from St Vincent and the Grenadines, among others.
A statement issued by the European Commission said a total of 181 airlines from around the globe were affected by this.
It said this step was taken to ensure safety in the EU skies and noted that if these airlines meet international safety standards, the operational ban could be lifted.
“Airlines subjected to an operating ban could be permitted to operate within the European Union by using wet-leased aircraft of an airline which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with.
“The aircraft being used in such operations could be branded as if it belonged to the fleet of the banned airline,” it said.
The statement noted that, “Following today’s update, all airlines certified in Benin and Mozambique are cleared from the list, following further improvements to the aviation safety situation in these countries.”
“On the other hand, the airlines Med-View (Nigeria), Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Aviation Company Urga (Ukraine) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) were added to the list due to unaddressed safety deficiencies that were detected by the European aviation safety agency during the assessment for a third country operator authorisation,” it said.