EU Bans All Afghan Airlines...

[AA 1818]

The European Union on Tuesday banned all Afghan airlines flying to Europe, leaving the country's main private airline scrambling for a way to maintain flights to Germany that are regularly used by international diplomats and business travelers.

The ban, which takes effect Tuesday, expands previously announced restrictions to cover all four of Afghanistan's main airlines. In reality, however, it affects only Safi Airways as two of the carriers do not have a European route and government-run Ariana Afghan Airlines operates its twice-weekly Europe-bound flights through a Turkish company.

The ban came after Afghanistan failed to comply in time with a European Union order to update aviation regulations dating back to 1972 and set up a Civil Aviation Authority, said Nangyalai Qalatwal, a spokesman for the Afghani transportation ministry.
Updated regulations were approved two weeks ago and an Aviation Authority was set up six months ago, though it is still working on formally registering all Afghan airlines, he said.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Afghan....html?x=0&.v=2

A great article, it discusses Safi's proposal to purchase an EU based airline in order to get past the restrictions. I wish them the best of luck with that move. It would be a travesty to see such an airline snuffed out at such a crucial time in its and the nation's timeline. I hope that things progress quickly and that the EU reconsiders.

For the very least, it would be interesting to see the wet-leased aircraft that SAFI uses...

[DAIRD]

To avoid the ban, Ariana now operates a leased Privilege B757-200 (EC-ISY) on their KBL-FRA routing.

[ErwinS]

Isn't she flying for Safi?

[DAIRD]

Uuuups......yeah I got to admit I took it wrong... Correct. Its Safi.
I beg your pardon, folks.