In the weeks following the June 30 crash of one of its Airbus A310s off the coast of the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, Yemen flag carrier Yemenia became the poster child for questionable airline safety standards. The accident, in which 154 people died, provoked renewed calls for a global blacklist of operators deemed to be unsafe. France’s transport minister, Dominique Bussereau, revealed that ramp inspections conducted by the country’s DGAC civil aviation authority had revealed safety concerns that resulted in all three of Yemenia’s A310s being withdrawn from flights to France.
European Union transport commissioner Antonio Tajani promptly convened meetings with ICAO president Robert Gonzalez to advance the case for a global blacklist–a topic that will now likely top the agenda at ICAO’s next safety conference in March next year. However, it is far from clear that a workable consensus for a global blacklist will emerge from among the 190 ICAO member states. Gonzalez himself has indicated that he views the blacklist as something of a blunt instrument and that more sophisticated, targeted measures are needed to raise global safety standards.
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