Yemenia 'extremely concerned' over blacklist

Jul 02, 2009 at 10:17

Yemeni carrier will not attend EU Air Safety Committee meeting, chairman says 'short notice' for no show.

Yemenia Airways will not attend a European Union Air Safety Committee meeting on Thursday and is "extremely concerned" about being placed on a blacklist, the carrier's chairman said on Wednesday.

"No one is able to attend at such short notice," Abdulkalek Saleh al-Kadi told news agency Zawya Dow Jones by telephone late Wednesday. "All our resources are working on the crash investigation."

The European Commission invited the airline to a July 2 meeting of the EU's Air Safety Committee to update it on its safety issues.

The Commission also wrote to the airline to warn that Yemenia aircraft could be banned if it fails to prove that it's dealing with safety problems.

"Of course we are concerned about being blacklisted, but the EU should be fair in its judgment," Kadi said.

"After 40 years of flying without problems, they cannot suddenly decide to put us on a blacklist because of one accident."

On Tuesday, a Yemenia Airbus 310-300 came down in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday with 153 people on board as it came in to land at Moroni.

The EU on Tuesday said problems had been found in the crashed aircraft in 2007, but Kadi it had worked to address the issues raised.

"Most of the issues raised were not to do with safety issues and were cosmetic," Kadi said. "We worked hard to fix them."

"The plane had two new engines. It's been flying all over the Yemenia network for many years without problems," he said.