European Aviation Safety Committee denies “blacklisting” Moldova

The Aviation Safety Committee of the European Commission (EC) did not propose the Commission to ban airlines from Moldova from operating in the European Union skies, a press release of the Committee says. It was publicised in order to avoid misinterpretations on including Moldovan companies in a “blacklist” of the European Union. The institution specifies that on the basis of the measures taken by the Civil Aviation Authority of Moldova (ASAC), the Aviation Safety Committee proposed CE only to monitor the situation on the security of flights performed by the air operators certificated by Moldova. The final decision of the European Commission, which will take into consideration the opinion of the Aviation Safety Committee will be made on July 4, 2007 and will come into force on July 6, 2007. At the same time, the press release says that the Companies which were withdrawn the air operator certificates from had 661 employees, of which 398 are foreigners, which is 61% of the total number of employees. The foreign press, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, wrote on June 28 that ten air companies from Russia, six Bulgarian and 8 from Moldova will be prohibited from operating in the EU skies. It was mentioned that the European Commission has updated a blacklist of the companies considered unsafe. These measures were adopted to prevent unsafe flights to Europe, as well as to determine the civil aviation authorities to improve the safety of flights, the cited source wrote. ASAC withdrew the licences from eight cargo companies: Valan, Pecotox, Jet Line International, Jet Stream, Marculesti Airport, Aeronord, Grixona and Tiramavia. The Aeronautics Association has recently accused the Civil Aviation Authority of Moldova (ASAC) of incompetence and warned it will sue ASAC if it does not annul the ordinance on withdrawing flight certificates from 8 cargo airlines, issued on June 22, 2007. Only three airlines, including “Air Moldova”, which transports exclusively passengers, still hold their flight certificates.