EU KEEPS MOZAMBICAN AIR COMPANIES ON BANNED LIST

The European Commission has kept all Mozambican air companies on its black list of airlines that are not allowed to operate in the air space of the European Union.In a press release issued in Brussels on Thursday, the EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, said that Mozambique was one of several countries were “progress has been made”. “Hopefully this progress can lead to a positive decision in the future”, she said. Mozambique is one of 21 counties whose airlines, with a few exceptions, are completely banned from European air space. The EU says that countries are on the list, either because their airlines “are considered not to be able to respect international aviation safety standards”, or because their civil aviation authorities “are deemed unable to provide the necessary safety oversight as foreseen by international aviation safety rules”.Mozambique was first put on the list in 2011, and the problem has always been, not with the country’s airlines, but with the regulator, the Mozambique Civil Aviation Authority (IACM), which the EU deems does not meet its standards.Asked about the continued ban on Saturday, Transport Minister Gabriel Muthisse was clearly angered by the EU position and declared “I don’t work for the Europeans, I work for the Mozambicans. Our work to improve the airports, to acquire new aircraft, and to upgrade the capacity of our regulatory authority are not for the Europeans”.Cited by the independent daily “O Pais”, he added that the government is not worried by the EU decision since the national carrier, LAM (Mozambique Airlines), has no intention of flying to Europe in the near future.