Does the airlines black-list make your travel safer ?
An important part of the worldwide aviation safety system are the so called Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA). To make the long story short, aircraft and airlines are certified by their national authorities but each country can inspect foreign aircraft operating in its airports. This reduces the risk of complacency by national authorities.
If an aircraft is tagged as unsafe, the inspecting country can ban it from its airspace. In worst cases, a whole airline can be banned. The members of the European Union manage this common black-list which anyone can download. The national authorities of some countries are so easy-going that all the companies they certify are banned from the European airspace.
Does this mechanism eliminate the risk of finding yourself on board of such an aircraft without even knowing about it ? Yes and on. The Yemenia Airlines Airbus which crashed in the Comoros was banned from the European Union. Formally speaking the flight originated from Paris. No mysteries here. Passengers boarded a non-banned aircraft in Paris, flew to Yemen and were transferred in the banned aircraft. The company’s fleet is somehow split in two: aircraft operating to Europe and those operating only outside Europe.
If your flight departs and ends in European Union, you’re safe. If your flight includes an aircraft change somewhere outside, you should be careful. If you take national flight in a banned country, the risks are certainly higher. It does not mean that each and every flight ends up in a crash, but the probability is a bit higher. After all, these pilots are not kamikazes…
Passengers flying in these countries must cope with a simple problem: there is no alternative. What would you do if your flight includes an aircraft change, and you realize shortly before boarding that the second aircraft is banned ? Don’t board, loose your ticket, and find yourself trapped in an airport, possibly without visa and return ticket ?
I checked for flights between London and Sanaa, Yemen. The results are quite interesting, offering various alternatives:
- Yemenia 328.90 GBP
- Gulf Air 356.30 GBP
- Emirates 365.30 GBP
- Egyptair 401.50 GBP
- Jet Airways 920.50 GBP
- bmi 1,005.50 GBP
None of these airlines are banned, they simple could not operate in London if they were. Interestingly, Emirates – one of the best airlines today – is offering service only 10% above Yemenia. Price is not a reliable safety indicator. Once again, Yemenia is not banned, but some of its aircraft are, and this is quite a sign… The best way to reduce the risk you take is to always take direct flights. Any flight originating or ending in the European Union is the guarantee that the aircraft is not banned.
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Julien
The last page of the EU no-fly list makes the strategy of some airlines very obvious: all their aircraft are subject to operational restrictions except one. Gabon Airlines for example can only use its B767-200 TR-LHP for flying to and from Europe.
One could argue that the very existence of the no-fly list encourages such airlines to run a ‘two-class’ maintenance schedule. I think this is a flawed argument since, if the no-fly list didn’t exist, all aircraft at these companies would be maintained to the lowest possible standard. Which prompted the creation of such lists in the first place.
One implicit assumption here is that passengers always know in advance which airline they’ll fly on, which is not always the case with packaged tours and last-minute rebookings to other airlines. But a no-fly list is definitely better than nothing.
Jul 13th, 2009
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