Turkmenistan Airlines banned from European air space over safety concerns

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  • capetonianm
    Participant

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/turkmenistan-airlines-banned-eu/

    Cheap flights to India will be harder to come by after the EU banned Turkmenistan Airlines from European air space over safety concerns.

    The Turkmenistan flag carrier operates services to Amritsar from Birmingham and Heathrow and New Delhi from Heathrow, via the capital Turkmeni capital Ashgabat.

    Currently, airlines from the following countries are banned from European skies:

    Afghanistan
    Angola
    Republic of Congo
    Democratic Republic of Congo
    Djibouti
    Equatorial Guinea
    Eritrea
    Gabon
    Kyrgyzstan
    Liberia
    Libya
    Nepal
    Sao Tome and Principe
    Sierra Leone
    Sudan


    cwoodward
    Participant

    Cheap flights to India will be harder to come by after the EU banned Turkmenistan Airlines from European air space over safety concerns.

    I was surprised to read this as other than one old 757 its LH fleet of 777 and 737s is under 7 years old.
    They have decent customer revues and are rated 3 star for safety by most agencies.The management seem to be qualified and stable and I cant find any reports of any sort of fatal accident going back to 1988 when it first operated as cargo only using Russian aircraft. There was a non fatal accident in 1996 but seems no incidents of note sinse.
    On the surface it seems a fairly good budget airline (flying to 22 countries) and perhaps it has just fallen fowl of some EU regulation rather than due to any serious safety issues.
    Based on everything that I can find related to Turkmenistan Airlines I would expect to see them back in Europe sooner rather than later.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    capetonianm
    Participant

    You are probably correct, although a couple of sites give very poor reviews but quality of passenger service is not directly equated with safety.

    Age of fleet is irrelevant. I’d rather fly on one of BA’s properly maintained 28 year old 747-436s with an experienced and professional crew, than a brand new shiny aircraft operated by a bunch of cowboys.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    This evening UK’s CAA has said that Wamos Air (a Spanish charter airline) is now being used to operate some flights.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I have been involved in business jet acquisition and know the lengths the mfg’s go to support their customers in terms of operating procedures and maintenance. It does make you wonder though, what responsibility, if any, the commercial mfg’s have & in some instances Governments, in ensuring those that operate passenger jets have the ability to do so safely. What concerns me about this story, is the airline may be banned in Europe, but not in other parts of the world.

    Thai’s position in the USA (withdrawing or banned) draws the same question. Why can Thai fly in the Eu but not the USA and if they are that unsafe, why are the mfg’s selling and supporting aircraft to the company.

    Do the aircraft mfg’s have any responsibility to ensure the airlines they sell jets to are able to safely operate them?


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Looking at reviews of Turkmenistan Airlines on Skytrax (yes, I know ….!) the recurrent theme seems to be lack of adherence to normal safety procedures, passengers and crew smoking onboard, flight deck door open in flight etc. It may be that as a result of complaints to the appropriate body, they were banned.

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