ICAA clarifies the European air safety ban list

INA -  BAGHDAD 

Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority - ICCA issued a clarification regarding untrue talks reported by some media outlets about a European air safety ban list in 2009 that has been dealt with.

"Some mass and social media dealt with completely unfounded statements by one of the figures, that the Iraqi Airways company had been subjected to the European air safety ban list in 2009 and was dealt with by the same person according to his claims," stated ICCA in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency - INA.

ICCA included that "here, it is necessary to clarify that the Iraqi Airways Company was not banned from flying during the aforementioned period, but rather, it was covered by the financial penalties incurred in its liability following the invasion of the former regime of Kuwait during the year 1990 and the issuance of the judicial decision in favor of the State of Kuwait to confiscate one of Iraqi Airways planes in London after obtaining an order from the Supreme Court against Iraqi Airways that included the freezing of its assets all over the world. This pushed the company to stop its flights to Britain and Sweden for fear of seizing its planes, and after all financial dues were paid, the lawsuits on behalf of the company were dropped and returned to work."

"From a technical point of view, Iraqi Airways was not banned from flying except in 2015 due to the company's inability at that time to fulfill the requirements for obtaining a license for the third operator (TCO), noting that the European Aviation Safety Agency issued Instructions No. 452/2014. According to this, all non-European airlines were obligated to obtain a TCO's certificate to allow them to operate in the European Union, meaning that these instructions were not issued in the first place before this date. It must be noted that the list of air carriers subject to European air safety is updated periodically and twice per year unless the banned companies take ameliorative measures,” included in the statement.

The statement highlighted that "repeatedly dealing with this issue in this way through the media is nothing but irresponsible attempts to confuse cards and an open way to delude decision makers and public opinion with misleading information."