The EU clears Kazakhstani airlines from its air safety list

Kazakhstani authorities had been negotiating with the European Commission on the issue since 2009 / Collage by Kursiv.media, photo editor: Denis Andreev

According to the Civil Aviation Committee (CAC), Kazakhstani airlines are no longer on the EU Air Safety List, which means they can fly to European countries with no restrictions. The country’s Ministry of Transport had been involved in resolving the issue since 2009.

«In May 2024, Director for Aviation (DG MOVE Directorate E) in the European Commission Filipp Cornelis informed us in a letter that the European Commission decided to stop its rigorous monitoring over Kazakhstan,» the committee said in a statement.

The CAC noted that the European Commission’s decision followed all the intense work conducted since 2009, as well as the successful technical evaluation of air safety in Kazakhstan by EU experts.

Kazakhstani airline operations in the EU had been restricted since 2009. At that time, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) reported that Kazakhstan had implemented just 47% of the ICAO standards, which led the EU to ban Kazakhstani airlines from flying in European countries. The only exception was made for Air Astana, although the airline was restricted in expanding its network of destinations and aircraft fleet.

In 2018, the European Commission lifted restrictions on Kazakhstani airlines that were willing to fly to EU member states. At that time, Zhenis Kassymbek, the former minister for investments and development of Kazakhstan, said that the EU experts were quite happy with the progress the country had made in the sphere of air safety and expressed his confidence in obtaining a higher rate from the ICAO.

However, the crash of the Bek Air aircraft made the European Commission once again doubt the ability of the air authorities of Kazakhstan to control air safety in the country effectively.

«There was a high risk of being included in the Air Safety List of the European Commission back in 2022,» the CAC said, highlighting that it had done a lot to lift restrictions imposed on Kazakhstani airlines.

Last year, the ICAO reported that air safety in Kazakhstan matches 82% of the international standards. At that time, the ICAO said that Kazakhstani standards were comparable with the average rate for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) member states.

The EU Air Safety List is a blacklist for commercial airlines that do not fully comply with European air safety standards. Therefore, the EU prohibits aircraft from these countries from being in the airspace of any EU member state. The list, based on the European Commission’s instructions, was first published in 2006.