Air carriers from Sudan and the Philippines have featured in the European Union’s (EU) list of barred airlines from its airspace. It has also placed restrictions on Iran Air.

The European Commission (EC) has updated the European Union’s list of blacklisted airlines to include all air carriers of Sudan and the Philippines, on the basis of safety assessments by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

With this update, Air Koryo of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is allowed to resume operations of two aircraft into the EU that have been banned since 2006 and 12 commercial carriers from Sudan were banned citing “persistant non-compliance”.

Despite the ban, the EC has acknowledged the recent efforts in the Philippines to address safety deficiencies reported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and ICAO and measures taken by Philippines Airlines and Cebu Airlines to ensure safety of operations.

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the EC delegation to the Philippines, said that the EC was prepared to send a delegation of safety experts to visit the country to overcome serious safety deficiencies.

The updated list has three carriers whose operations are fully blacklisted in the EU: Ariana Afghan Airlines from Afghanistan, Siem Reap Airways International from Cambodia and Silverback Cargo Freighters from Rwanda.