Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1197/2011 of 21 November 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 establishing the Community list of air carriers which are subject to an operating ban within the Community Text with EEA relevance

• Published date: 22 November 2011
• Subject Matter: Transport
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 303, 22 November 2011

22.11.2011 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 303/14

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COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 1197/2011

of 21 November 2011

amending Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 establishing the Community list of air carriers which are subject to an operating ban within the Community

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005 of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 December 2005 on the establishment of a Community list of air carriers subject to an operating ban within the Community and on informing air passengers of the identity of the operating carrier, and repealing Article 9 of Directive 2004/36/CE (1), and in particular Article 4 thereof (2),

Whereas:

(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 of 22 March 2006 established the Community list of air carriers which are subject to an operating ban within the Union referred to in Chapter II of Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005.

(2) In accordance with Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005, some Member States and the European Aviation Safety Agency (hereinafter "EASA") communicated to the Commission information that is relevant in the context of updating the Community list. Relevant information was also communicated by third countries. On this basis, the Community list should be updated.

(3) The Commission informed all air carriers concerned either directly or, when this was not practicable, through the authorities responsible for their regulatory oversight, indicating the essential facts and considerations which would form the basis for a decision to impose on them an operating ban within the Union or to modify the conditions of an operating ban imposed on an air carrier which is included in the Community list.

(4) Opportunity was given by the Commission to the air carriers concerned to consult documents provided by Member States, to submit written comments and to make an oral presentation to the Commission within 10 working days and to the Air Safety Committee established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/1991 of 16 December on the harmonization of the technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation (3).

(5) The Air Safety Committee has heard presentations by EASA about the results of the analysis of audit reports carried out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in the framework of the comprehensive USOAP programme as well as technical assistance projects carried out in countries affected by Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005. It has been informed about the requests for further technical assistance and cooperation to improve the administrative and technical capability of civil aviation authorities with a view to resolving any non compliance with applicable international standards

(6) Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 should be therefore amended accordingly,

(7) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Air Safety Committee,

(8) Following the analysis by EASA of information resulting from SAFA ramp checks carried out on aircraft of certain Union air carriers or from standardisation inspections carried out by EASA as well as area specific inspections and audits carried out by their national aviation authorities, some Member States have taken certain enforcement measures. They informed the Commission and the Air Safety Committee about these measures: Cyprus decided to revoke on 5 August 2011 the AOC of the air carrier Eurocypria Airlines; Italy informed the air transport license held by the air carriers Livingston and ItaliAirlines remain suspended; France decided to revoke the AOC of Blue Line on 6 October 2010. Greece decided to revoke the AOC of First Airways on 21 October 2010, to revoke the AOC of Athens Airways on 20 July 2011, to revoke the AOC of Air Go Airlines on 2 September 2011, to revoke the AOC of Argo Airways on 9 September 2011, to limit the validity of the license of the air carrier Hellenic Imperial Airways to five months until 2 February 2012 as a result of the on-going heightened surveillance of its air operations and its maintenance; the United Kingdom confirmed that the enhanced surveillance activity of the air carriers Jet2.com, Oasis and Titan Airways has not revealed further safety concerns; the Netherlands decided to suspend the AOC of Solid-air on 28 September and to suspend the AOC of Amsterdam Airlines on 4 November 2011; Germany decided to revoke the AOC of ACH Hamburg GmbH on 29 June 2011. Furthermore, pending the expected reinforcement of the staffing of the LBA in 2012, the LBA are continuing to focus their oversight on those air carriers identified as presenting higher risks; Portugal informed that the AOC of the air carrier Luzair expired on 19 September 2011 and is in the process of recertification, and that, as the enhanced surveillance of White Airways has not revealed safety concerns, the air carrier has returned under normal surveillance; finally Sweden decided to suspend on 16 September 2011 the AOCs of the air carrier Flyg Centrum AB and the air carriers Nova Air and AirSweden Aviation AB have submitted corrective action plans which are being examined by the competent authorities of Sweden; in the meantime these air carriers remain under enhanced surveillance.

(9) Following the adoption of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No390/2011 on 19 April 2011 (4), two subsequent regular analyses of SAFA inspection data by EASA continues to show a high number of air carriers licensed in Spain with results from SAFA inspections of more than one major finding per inspection. As a result the Commission continued the formal consultations with the competent authorities of Spain (AESA) which were launched on 14 March 2011.

(10) At a meeting on 19 October 2011, AESA briefed the Commission on the actions taken to date to address the identified safety issues with Spanish air carriers in a sustainable manner. In particular, AESA informed the Commission that the air carrier Flightline, following corrective actions by the company, had its AOC renewed, but limited to exclude the aircraft of type Metro III. In the case of the air carrier Zorex S.A., AESA had launched suspension action and provisional measures to prevent operations in May 2011. After remedial actions by the company the measures were lifted. However, following further evidence that the air carrier was not satisfactorily addressing safety concerns a new suspension procedure was commenced on 7 October 2011. Concerning the air carrier Alba Star, AESA had already detected issues with the safety performance of this air carrier and were increasing oversight. AESA, from their own audits and inspections, had determined that the other Spanish air carriers that had had some poor results from SAFA inspections did not present any immediate safety risk but would continue to be subject to enhanced oversight.

(11) AESA also briefed that the AOCs of Baleares Link Express and Eurocontinental had been revoked on 27 June 2011.

(12) During the meeting of the Air Safety Committee AESA updated the Committee on further actions taken. They informed that the AOC of Zorex S.A. had been suspended on 7 November 2011, that the air carrier Alba Star had been subject to specific inspections on 24 October 2011 with no significant discrepancies detected, and that the last two SAFA inspections had no findings. Furthermore, the air carrier IMD Airways S.L. had been subject to a series of inspections on 20, 24 October and 3, 4 November 2011 with no significant findings.

(13) Given the actions undertaken by AESA in addressing the identified safety deficiencies of Spanish air carriers it is assessed that, currently, the operations of these air carriers are sufficiently controlled by that authority to avoid any serious risks to safety and therefore no further action is necessary. Meanwhile the Commission, in co- operation with EASA, will continue to monitor the safety performance of Spanish air carriers.

(14) ICAO carried out a comprehensive safety audit of Albania under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) in December 2009. This audit reported a large number of significant deficiencies with regard to the capability of the competent authorities of Albania to discharge their air safety oversight responsibilities. At the time of the issuance of the final report stemming from this audit, more than 59 % of ICAO standards were considered by ICAO as not effectively implemented. On certain critical elements such as the resolution of safety concerns, more than 80 % of ICAO standards were not effectively implemented. In addition, the competent authorities of Albania failed to propose adequate corrective action plans, as demonstrated by the fact that more than 90 % of the corrective actions submitted by these authorities to ICAO in August 2010 in the fields of legislation, organisation, licensing, operations, airworthiness and accident/incident investigation have not been considered acceptable by ICAO. Furthermore, the competent authorities of Albania have failed to report the implementation of the above mentioned corrective action plans.

(15) EASA carried out a comprehensive standardisation inspection of Albania in January 2010. The final report of this inspection revealed significant deficiencies in all areas audited that needed to be immediately remedied. EASA informed however that the competent authorities of Albania (ACAA) had presented a comprehensive action plan that had been found acceptable and had been agreed on 29 April 2010 and a series of remedial actions to be implemented progressively until the

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