Kyrgyzstan Targets Unsafe Air Carriers
Kyrgyzstan Targets Unsafe Air Carriers
The Kyrgyz aviation code has been changed in an effort to bring the country’s flight operators up to international standards, but NBCentralAsia experts say that this will have little effect without being backed up by stringent checks.
On June 26, parliament amended the air code to bring civil flights in line with International Commercial Aviation Organisation, policy, or ICAO. The revisions set out national industry rules and regulations and aim to give aviation inspectors more authority to conduct checks.
All Kyrgyz cargo carriers are currently banned from flying into European Union airspace for failing to meet minimum safety requirements. Along with many African and other Asian operators, all 25 air companies that fly out of Kyrgyzstan are on the latest EU black list, updated on July 4 this year.
Member of parliament Kadyrjan Batyrov, one of the architects of the draft law, says that the new code will improve Kyrgyzstan’s safety record.
The amendment was prompted after the ICAO and the European Commission expressed criticism that many of the air companies registered in the republic do not meet ICAO requirements, which has “a detrimental effect on flight safety” both in Kyrgyzstan and Europe, he explains.
But Mamat Nazarov, head of commercial aviation at the transport and communications ministry, says that simply amending the air code will not prompt the EU to review its ban on Kyrgyz flights. All documentation and civil aviation operations must be brought in line with international standards as well, he says.
Dilya Ashirmatova, head of marketing at Itek Air, says that local companies have their hands tied and are unable to do anything that might remove them from the EU banned list. Kyrgyzstan’s largest airport at Manas is also “one of the most expensive airports in the world” and high fees mean that operators find it difficult to compete with other airlines, she says.
Batyrov says the transport ministry needs to reform civil aviation, ensure that operation documents are checked more rigorously and crack down on other oversights.
Air companies that fall short of standards should be shut down and only those that “work properly and present their services on the market” should be allowed to operate, he says.
The transport ministry will soon begin drafting a new commercial aviation regulation.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On June 26, parliament amended the air code to bring civil flights in line with International Commercial Aviation Organisation, policy, or ICAO. The revisions set out national industry rules and regulations and aim to give aviation inspectors more authority to conduct checks.
All Kyrgyz cargo carriers are currently banned from flying into European Union airspace for failing to meet minimum safety requirements. Along with many African and other Asian operators, all 25 air companies that fly out of Kyrgyzstan are on the latest EU black list, updated on July 4 this year.
Member of parliament Kadyrjan Batyrov, one of the architects of the draft law, says that the new code will improve Kyrgyzstan’s safety record.
The amendment was prompted after the ICAO and the European Commission expressed criticism that many of the air companies registered in the republic do not meet ICAO requirements, which has “a detrimental effect on flight safety” both in Kyrgyzstan and Europe, he explains.
But Mamat Nazarov, head of commercial aviation at the transport and communications ministry, says that simply amending the air code will not prompt the EU to review its ban on Kyrgyz flights. All documentation and civil aviation operations must be brought in line with international standards as well, he says.
Dilya Ashirmatova, head of marketing at Itek Air, says that local companies have their hands tied and are unable to do anything that might remove them from the EU banned list. Kyrgyzstan’s largest airport at Manas is also “one of the most expensive airports in the world” and high fees mean that operators find it difficult to compete with other airlines, she says.
Batyrov says the transport ministry needs to reform civil aviation, ensure that operation documents are checked more rigorously and crack down on other oversights.
Air companies that fall short of standards should be shut down and only those that “work properly and present their services on the market” should be allowed to operate, he says.
The transport ministry will soon begin drafting a new commercial aviation regulation.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
