The airline is the latest to join the E.U.'s blacklist.
An Air Tanzania A220 (Photo: Airbus)
Tanzania’s flag carrier has found its way up on the E.U.’s air safety list. The news comes despite the fact that the airline currently doesn’t fly to any European Union member state destinations.
Like the U.K. and U.S., the European Union has a list of airlines that are banned from flying to and from its member states, as well as into their airspaces. Sometimes individual airlines wind up on the list, but it can often be any airline from a certain country due to safety standards.
For example, all airlines from Kyrgyzstan are banned from flying to the E.U. because of the country’s safety regulations.
In a statement released by the EU on Friday, December 13, regulators stated they had refused to grant Air Tanzania a Third Country Operator authorization, which is essential for flying into EU airspace.
This comes after an extensive review by aviation safety experts of member states in Brussels last month, regulators said. The review found Air Tanzania to not be meeting safety standards for unspecified reasons.
While Air Tanzania currently doesn’t operate in the region, this is still a setback for the airline should they hope to operate there in the future. The airline has recently been attempting to renew its fleet, ordering new Boeing 787-8s, 737 MAXs, and Airbus A220s.
However, while talking to The Citizen, Tanzania’s chief government spokesperson seemed confident that the ban would be lifted at some point in the future. He claimed that it was “a process which takes time,” but that “E.U. safety experts are expected to visit Tanzania soon to complete the vetting process.”
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