The European Commission has added all airlines from Djibouti, the Republic of Congo and Sâo Tomé and Princípe to its airline safety blacklist. Airlines placed on the blacklist by Brussels are not permitted to fly above Europe.

Yemenia Yemen Airways avoided inclusion on the list despite a fatal crash in June on the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean which claimed 152 lives. One girl survived the disaster by clinging on to floating pieces of debris in the sea. EU authorities then threatened Yemenia with a ban if it failed to act. The Commission said it was now satisfied that Yemenia was taking concerns about safety seriously.

The ban on the Republic of Congo came after safety concerns were raised following the crash of a cargo aircraft in August, killing all six occupants. The Commission noted evidence that airlines registered in Sâo Tomé and Príncipe suffered an unusually high level of accidents and that it was becoming a haven for dangerous airlines trying to circumvent bans on their home countries.

The Commission reported progress by Angola's state-owned airline TAAG, allowing the carrier to increase the number of aircraft it uses on its route to Portugal.