Bulgaria grounded from EU single sky

Bulgaria’s aviation sector is to be excluded from the benefits of Europe’s ‘single sky’ after Brussels inspectors found serious deficiencies in safety procedures.

EU commissioners agreed at their weekly meeting on Wednesday to invoke a so-called ‘safeguard clause’ against Bulgaria on aviation safety.

The move comes after “deficiencies concerning the capacity of the Bulgarian civil aviation authorities (BCAA) to exercise correctly the oversight of aircraft personnel and maintenance organisations” were highlighted.

Brussels said there was “considerable risk” that Bulgaria could not fully comply with EU aviation safety procedures.

EU transport chief, Jacques Barrot said in a statement that, “as things stand, we are not satisfied that Bulgaria meets the required standard [to operate freely in the European market].

The commission said that their main concerns were with the shortcomings of the BCAA’s administrative capacity generally and on the certification of airworthiness and maintenance of aircraft. 

The investigation revealed that there were too few properly trained BCAA staff.

Exclusion from the EU’s internal aviation market could have serious implications for Sofia. 

Being outside the EU’s regime on mutual recognition of standards such as the Europe-wide certification of aircraft spares, means Bulgaria will have to arrange individual arrangements with each member state, adding a bureaucratic and costly burden to airline operations.

And although there will be no restrictions on Bulgarian carriers operating within the EU, the commission warned that Bulgarian operators “will have to comply with EU safety rules and might be grounded by member states if found seriously defective during a ramp inspection.”

The exclusion is a blow to Bulgaria’s prestige ahead of joining the EU in January, and follow restrictions recently placed on Sofia on the import of meat and milk into the EU.

The new restrictions have called into question whether Bulgaria is fully prepared for EU membership on January 1 2007.

Bulgaria’s prime minister Sergey Stanishev has said the criticism of his country is unfair and stems in part from a general public hostility towards further EU enlargement.

However, Bulgaria will remain a ‘third country operator’ until a further EU inspection finds that safety procedures are satisfactory.

The commission is currently not advising people against flying with Bulgarian carriers, but the results of investigations on individual carriers will be forwarded to the EU’s air safety committee - which advises the commission on which carriers should be placed on an EU black list - in February. 

“The commission is not targeting a particular company [but] we are urgently assessing the situation of each Bulgarian carrier,” said the commission in a statement.

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