The European Commission has banned Air Tanzania from flying within the European Union territory over safety concerns. The commission added the airline – which had been seeking permission to start flying into Europe – to a list of banned carriers on December 13, 2024.
“The basis for this decision is safety concerns identified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). These also led to the decision not to grant Air Tanzania a Third Country Operator (TCO) authorization,” the European Commission said in a statement.
The carrier joined what now has become a total of 129 airlines that are banned from EU skies. These include airlines that are certified in Afghanistan, Angola (with the exception of 2 airlines), Armenia, Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, São Tomé and PrÃncipe, Sierra Leone and Sudan).
There are also airlines that are certified in Russia and other countries including Air Tanzania (Tanzania), Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), Avior Airlines (Venezuela), Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname), Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Fly Baghdad (Iraq) and Iraqi Airways (Iraq).
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“The decision to include Air Tanzania in the EU Air Safety List underscores our unwavering commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards for passengers in Europe and worldwide,” said Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas