EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/297

(2004/C 84 E/0344)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0035/04

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject: Unavailability for commercial reasons of information on insufficient airline safety standards

1. When and in what way was it made known outside Switzerland that that country had prohibited the Egyptian airline Flash Airlines, one of whose aircraft crashed into the Red Sea on 3 January 2004 with French passengers on board, from flying over Switzerland or landing there because of the unsafe nature of the company's aircraft?

2. How is such information on airline safety standards that is gathered by Member States' institutions exchanged and made public within the EU and the EEA?

3. What can individual Member States or the EU do on the basis of such information to prevent overflying and landing by unsafe aircraft?

4. Were information on safety checks and the names of unsafe airlines kept from the public and consumer associations by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) for commercial reasons?

5. Does the Commission think it acceptable that airline passengers do not, when booking a flight, have access to information that may enable them to weigh up the potentially tempting price against the danger to their lives?

6. What can now be done to prevent passengers from again using dangerous airlines unwittingly or to prevent dangerous airlines from choosing the EU Member States that operate the least strict standards before landing and attracting passengers?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(9 March 2004)

According to the information available to the Commission, the Swiss authorities informed the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) of their decision to refuse access to Swiss airspace to Flash Airlines on 15 October 2002. The JAA manage the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) database on behalf of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). The database contains reports of inspections carried out by the 38 member States of the ECAC. On 16 October 2002, the JAA forwarded the information thus received to all SAFA national coordinators, asking them to take account of it in their own inspection programmes.

The EU Member States are participating in the SAFA programme until the entry into force of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safety of third countries aircraft using Community airports. The information in the database is not public.

Until the Directive enters into force, each Member State has to decide whether to grant access to its own airspace on the basis of the information available.

The Civil Aviation Conference's SAFA database is a technical programme aimed at accident prevention, and does not provide for the publication of detailed information on the checks carried out by the participating States.

The Commission has already begun consultations with a view to improving the transparency of airline identification, and intends to present measures at the earliest opportunity to address the shortcomings brought to light by the aviation disaster of 3 January 2004.

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to Written Question P-0158/04 by Mr Hortefeux (1) explaining the provisions of the Directive which should correct the failings of the current system of inspecting third countries' aircraft, particularly with regard to public information. It will also ensure a more rigorous application of the most stringent standards.

(1) OJ C 78 E, 27.3.2004.