Europe has blacklisted privately-owned and State-owne d airlines from 12 African countries, banning them from operating flights to Eur o pe, according to a blacklist issued Monday by the Air Safety Committee of the Eu r opean Union.
The affected countries are Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibou ti, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, the Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome an d Principe, Sudan, Swaziland, Zambia and Ghana.
The ban affects all private and government airlines in those countries, the blac klist showed, indicating that for Ghana, only its private airline, the Meridian A irways, was affected.
The blacklist also showed that altogether 278 private and national airlines acro ss the world, most of which are based in Africa, were banned.
The statement indicated that Gabonese private airlines, Afrijet and SN2AG, were, however, authorized to fly to Europe under certain conditions.
