EU Bans All Tanzanian Air Carriers from Operating in European Airspace

On 3^rd June 2025, the European Commission updated the EU Air Safety List to include all air carriers certified in Tanzania and Suriname, banning them from operating within European Union airspace.

According to the Commission, this decision is based on serious safety concerns identified during assessments conducted by European Union aviation safety experts.

The experts identified serious safety shortcomings in both operational and regulatory oversight in Tanzania and Suriname.

The findings pointed to a shortage of qualified personnel, ineffective safety oversight, and non-compliance with international aviation standards by both countries’ Civil Aviation Authorities and certified carriers.

The updated EU Air Safety List includes airlines that fail to meet international safety standards, and has a total of 169 airlines banned from EU skies.

Of these, 142 airlines certified in 17 states are banned due to inadequate safety oversight by national aviation authorities.

The 17 states are Afghanistan, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, and Venezuela.

Also, 22 airlines certified in Russia are banned over serious safety concerns.

Furthermore, five individual airlines are banned for specific safety concerns which are Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), Avior Airlines (Venezuela), Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Fly Baghdad (Iraq), and Iraqi Airways (Iraq).

An additional two airlines are subject to operational restrictions and may only fly to the EU with specific aircraft types, which are Iran Air (Iran) and Air Koryo (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).

EU Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, explained that the ban was due to “serious deficiencies in national aviation oversight” in both countries, and urged Suriname and Tanzania to take immediate action to resolve these issues.

This update follows the inclusion of Tanzania´s national carrier, Air Tanzania, on the EU Air Safety List in December 2024, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) denying the airline Third Country Operator (TCO) authorization due to safety concerns.

Despite a modern fleet that includes Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Airbus A220s, Air Tanzania and other Tanzanian carriers were found to have unresolved safety and compliance issues.