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France Bans Cameroon Airlines Flights

Posted on: Friday, 16 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

PARIS - France on Friday banned Cameroon Airlines flights for safety reasons, saying inspectors found worn tires on planes, leaks of hydraulic fluid and other violations of international standards.

Checks were conducted in May, July and August, and "each time there were anomalies," said French civil aviation authority spokeswoman Edith Tartry.

Executives from Cameroon Airlines were in a meeting Friday and the company had no immediate comment. The carrier flew four times a week to Paris.

The French suspension comes as the European Union is working to establish common standards to ban unsafe airlines in all 25 member states. European governments use different criteria to ban unsafe airlines, meaning planes blacklisted in one country can still land in other EU nations.

National air safety experts approved a proposal this month for an EU blacklist that needs the support of transport ministers and the European Parliament before it can enter into force in early 2006.

Tartry said Cameroon Airlines is the sixth carrier banned in France. The others are North Korea's Air Koryo; U.S. carrier Air Saint-Thomas; International Air Services of Liberia; the Mozambican Linhas Aereas de Mocambique and Phuket Airlines of Thailand.

The aviation authority asked the airline for an independent technical audit of its fleet. It said the flight suspension could be lifted when an audit shows the company is complying with international standards.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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