The British government has issued a list of foreign airlines that have been banned from passenger services to UK airports. The list was revealed in a reply to a question in Parliament.
The reasons given are related to safety concerns and in some cases because of a record of inadequate checks on the documentation of intending passengers.
The ban applies to all airlines based in Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Tajikistan as well as Star Air of Sierra Leone, and Central Air Express of Democratic Republic of Congo. All of these are described as having inadequate safety regulation.
Cameroon Airlines, and Kyrgystan Airlines are reported to have failed to pay fines for transporting inadequately documented passengers.
Albanian Airlines have been refused a permit to operate in UK airports because of security and immigration controls in Tirana.
Air Universal of Sierra Leone has been banned because of poor inspection findings and a lack of response from the Sierra Leone authorities. Inter Trans Air based in Bulgaria will not be allowed to operate in the UK until corrective action is taken over poor inspection findings on an Antonov 12 aircraft in its fleet.
Several airlines were named as being banned for a limited period while assurances were given by their national regulators about safety inspection concerns. These included RAF-AVIA of Latvia, Enimex of Estonia and Air Memphis, an Egyptian airline.