European Parliament Wants Airline Blacklist

The European Parliament voted Wednesday to create an EU-wide blacklist of airlines that do not meet international standards, one of a series of measures aimed at improving air safety.

Responding to a string of fatal plane crashes that claimed hundreds of lives this year, European Union lawmakers want carriers deemed unsafe to be banned from operating anywhere in the EU. At the moment, an airline banned in one EU member state can still operate in another.

EU countries are expected to approve the blacklist on December 5., and the bans are due to come into force early next year.

The list will be published on the Internet and brought to the attention of customers by ticket vendors, both at their premises and via their Web sites. Tour operators will have an obligation to inform passengers the identity of the carrier.

Under the new rules, passengers will also have a right to compensation if the airline on which they were to fly was included on the blacklist or replaced by a blacklisted airline after they bought the ticket.