Iraqi Airways has been banned from the European Union (EU) and four other European nations following a series of alleged safety lapses and inability to provide documentation to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Although the ban was imposed on July 16, it was only detected by the media when Transportstyrelsen, the Swedish Transport Agency, announced that it had revoked Iraqi Airways’ traffic permit to operate flights between Iraq and Sweden due to the airline’s poor safety record. The ban was imposed with immediate effect after Iraqi Airways failed to secure a Third Country Operators (TCO) certificate, a mandatory certification issued by EASA for airlines wishing to operate within the EU.
The TCO system is being introduced to simplify permission for non-EU carriers to operate within the 28-nation EU plus the four European Free Trade Association nations of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Instead of each non-EU airline having to apply to each national aviation regulator within the EU, It submits a single application to EASA.