A Star Alliance airliner prepares to land at Frankfurt Airport on June 3, 2026. | Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
The decision was announced as part of the European Commission’s 48th update of the EU Air Safety List , a registry first launched in 2006 to flag carriers that fall short of international safety standards and are therefore restricted or banned from EU skies. Notably, the update marks the 20th anniversary of the list , underscoring two decades of EU efforts to police global aviation safety.
According to the Commission, assessments carried out by EU aviation safety experts uncovered serious safety concerns and shortcomings in Air Express Algeria’s compliance with international safety standards . As a consequence, the carrier is now barred from operating any flights within the bloc.
Air Express Algeria is not alone. The Algerian carrier joins five other individually-named airlines added to the list over comparable safety deficiencies: Air Zimbabwe of Zimbabwe, Avior Airlines of Venezuela, Iran Aseman Airlines, and Iraq’s Fly Baghdad and Iraqi Airways . Two further carriers, Iran Air and North Korea’s Air Koryo, remain under partial restrictions and may only operate specific aircraft types approved as meeting EU safety requirements .
In total, the update brings the number of airlines banned from EU skies to 154, a list dominated by carriers from states whose national aviation authorities are judged incapable of providing adequate safety oversight. Beyond the Algerian carrier, 126 airlines certified across 16 countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Liberia, Libya, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Tanzania, among others, remain barred due to weak regulatory oversight, alongside 22 Russian-certified airlines .
Not every development in the latest update was negative for the countries involved, however. In a notable reversal, all airlines certified in Kyrgyzstan have been removed from the list, in recognition of the Central Asian country’s progress over the past 20 years in strengthening its aviation safety oversight . Kyrgyz carriers had been on the EU blacklist since the list’s inception in 2006.
The Commission framed the contrasting outcomes as evidence that the list continues to function as intended: rewarding genuine regulatory reform while penalising carriers and aviation authorities that fail to meet global benchmarks set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. A new Eurobarometer survey released alongside the update found that 70% of Europeans consider the list an effective tool for protecting passengers, while 75% trust the EU to base its listing decisions on safety rather than political or economic considerations , although only around 12% of travellers said they actually consult the list before booking a flight, despite roughly half of Europeans being aware it exists.
For Air Express Algeria, the ban means an immediate halt to any operations into European airports, and the case adds to a long-running pattern in which African carriers and national regulators have struggled to meet the safety benchmarks required for access to European markets. Officials say the broader goal of the list remains unchanged: to protect passengers while pushing airlines and civil aviation authorities worldwide to strengthen their safety management systems and regulatory compliance to internationally recognised standards.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah