European Commission ‘blacklists' 19 Kazakhstani airlines
Boasting one of the best aviation safety records in the world, Europe strives to raise aviation standards across the globe. To this end, it publishes the EU Safety List that has been updated every three months since 2006. According to the updated list, the European Commission banned all Kazakhstani air carriers, except for Air Astana, from operating in European airspace because they were found unsafe. The list includes 19 Kazakhstani airlines, namely Air Almaty, Atma Airlines, Avia Zhainar, Bek Air, Beybars Aircompany, Burundayavia Airlines, COMLUX-KZ, East Wing, Euro-Asia Air, Fly Jet KZ, Investavia, Irtysh Air, Jet Airlines, Kazair Jet, Kazairtrans Airline, Kazaviaspas, Prime Aviation, SCAT, and Zhetysu Aircompany. Air Astana has been restricted to operating in Europe under specific conditions - it is only allowed to use the specific aircraft types. The EU Safety List also features 13 Kyrgyz and 5 Afghan air carriers.